Graduation Day

Well, life certainly has it's way of catching up with you!  Just when you think you've got all your ducks in a row, you're ahead of the game, and just cruising through each day getting things done, things like Christmas happen.  It comes and goes and all of the sudden, you find yourself sitting on the cusp of February, and wondering where the time went.  Oh, well.  It's good to sit down again and resurrect my blog.

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This past weekend, I was glad to finally close a chapter in my life that I have been waiting to finish for quite a long time.  I finally got to walk across "that stage" and receive my diploma.

A convocation or graduation ceremony is such a common ceremony, everyone gets to experience a ceremony of this type at somepoint in their life.  Whether it's a kindergarten graduation, a high school commencement, or a convocation.  To the people who put on these ceremonies, they are probably quite routine, a yearly part of their job description, but for you, it's your "special day".  You worked for this.  You waited for this.  You dreamed of this.  You cried for this.  And all of the sudden, you're actually there. 

In kindergarten, I couldn't wait for our kindergarten graduation not only because I was excited for Grade 1, but because of the treats we knew we would be having afterwards.  I remember enjoying a very melty pink popsicle afterwards, very carefully, I might add, so as not to ruin my dress. 

Fast forward 22 years.  January 23rd, 2010.  The speeches were uplifting, though generic, like all graduation speeches.  We were treated to a spectacular performance by a 10 year old child prodigy who knocked our socks off.  And then, one by one we each had our turn to walk across the stage to be hooded and receive congratulations by various faculty members.  To them it was routine.  To me, it was once in a lifetime experience and I was going to cherish it.  And, I was not going to cry.  Thankfully, I didn't,  though it was touch and go there for a bit as we paraded into the hall with the Pomp and Circumstance Processional March being belted out by an RCM ensemble.

It was a great day, celebrated with my sweet husband, my mom and my dad.  And it was everything I dreamed of.


So as I think about what "my special day" was like, my thoughts are drawn on this birthday day, of a very wonderful man who graduated into a much higher place just a few short years ago.  Certainly not a routine ceremony it would have been.  A day made special just for Pastor Ira and full of much "pomp and circumstance", he would have walked across that stage, received the most wonderful of embraces, and heard the most meaningful words any graduate could hear:  "Well done, good and faithful servant.  Well, done."