At best,  I have been called a "sap".   At worst I have been called entirely too emotional.   A former co-worker of mine used to say "Susan , you even cry at card tricks!!"  Having said that,  I gotta believe that there are other people with me on this Graduation thing.

I really dislike "Pomp and Circumstance"  because it makes me cry.   I don't care who is graduating,  the song is such a symbol of a "passage" in life...it just brings tears to my eyes.   This created a bit of a problem last week when I was sitting with the Principal and School Board members at McPherson High on stage.   I was honored to be asked to give the commencement speech at the graduation ceremony for their 168 graduates.    Including family and friends,  there were about twenty-five hundred people in what they call the "Roundhouse."  

I thought, no big deal...I don't know anybody here .  I will be fine when they start marching in.  Wrong!!  I tried my best,   but tears welled up in my eyes.   Now,  at McPherson High they not only march in, they march around the whole "Roundhouse."  The band and orchestra played a beautiful "Pomp and Circumstance" that lasted quite awhile!!   I looked around to see....surely some family members were crying as well.   I couldn't find any.  They were too busy taking pictures and being proud of their loved one.   I looked at the Principal.   ....no, he wasn't crying.   My eyes met the eyes of a School Board member.  I just mouthed the words "I'm sorry"  to him.    Now,  I don't think very many people noticed at all.    But I have a question. 

Does anybody else find that song and the "passage" that Graduation represents, just a little sad?    Am I the only one?      Is there anyone out there who is with me on this Graduation thing??  Please let me know.

I have another question.    If  I shed tears at the ceremonies of people I don't even know,  what is going to happen when my girls graduate???????