Graduation Season

Remembering My Graduations

It is Graduation season! As I reflect on my graduation from high school and college, I really don’t remember much. Before my high school graduation, I was not in a good place emotionally. I had just run away from home (more on that later). I began a new high school my senior year so making friends was hard. What I remember most about my high school graduation was that my adoptive mother did not come. I was torn, I wanted her there but I didn’t. This was a milestone in my life. Aren’t parents supposed to be at important events?

College graduation was a little more memorable. I had actually figured out how to do college by my Senior year. I made Honorable Distinction, I was on Homecoming Court, I was a Resident Assistant, and involved in so many other things. But yet again, my adoptive mother did not come. By then I was in a better place but it still hurt that she didn’t care enough to show up or congratulate me.

While I didn’t have much of a relationship with my adoptive father, he did show up to both graduations. And the family I lived with during my Senior year of high school was there. They made both graduations special. In some ways, I wish I could redo each of my graduations. And yes, while I went to seminary, I did not graduate with a Master’s because at the time I was going through I did not have to have a seminary degree to be rostered in the ELCA as an Associate in Ministry. I was so close to receiving one, that I should have just finished, however, I was not in a place where I could emotionally and financially. Looking back I should have done it. Oh well! One of the many regrets I have. But I am not letting it stop me from moving on.