Congratulations Thing 3 and 2019 Graduates · 8 June 2019
It is graduation time again. I cannot help but be a proud parent. Congratulations Thing 3!
It is funny. I have written many times about how I hate the end of the school year. How I do not like saying goodbye. Ever. This year though. I am excited. Not to say goodbye, but excited that our youngest son is getting ready to set off on a new adventure. He is leaving the nest, and going off to college in the fall.
My kids do not really like me posting much about them, but I cannot help but be a proud parent this graduation season. After all, my youngest, Thing 3, is graduating from high school. He is done with 13 years of school. Fourteen, if you count pre-school. Yes, it is just the beginning. But it is an important milestone. A milestone that all three of our children have passed. (Pun intended.)
I am proud of my three sons. Thing 1, Thing 2, and Thing 3 are amazing young men. They are handsome and intelligent and amazing. (I might have already said the last one, but they are pretty amazing.) Yes, I am biased. But to tell you the truth, I would be proud of them even if they were not so handsome. Or so intelligent. Or so amazing. I would be proud of them just because they are who they are. They are my sons, and I am well pleased with them.
Despite my excitement this graduation season, I still have mixed emotions about graduation. I am sad that I must say goodbye to my students. And I am sad to see my own graduate leave the nest (even though it will not be for a while). But I am excited for them all. They are on to bigger and better things. And I am hopeful that the things I said and the things I did had at least a little positive impact on them. Yes, I have mixed emotions about graduation, but the positive ones far outweigh any negative or melancholy ones. Saying congratulations is much better than saying goodbye.
The thing about sending your own kids off to school as opposed to sending off other people’s kids is that you get to see your own kids again. Goodbye is not so final. Oh sure, my students come back to visit me. Some are even friends with me on Facebook or follow me on other social media. But that is not quite the same as seeing your own kids even after they are grown up. It is one thing to see other kids pass certain milestones. It is quite another to watch your own kids do so.
My youngest kid is graduating! I am excited. I am proud. I am anxiously watching as he moves into the next phase of his life. Not quite independent, but getting there. And even if you took away all his accomplishments and accolades, I would still be proud of him. After all he is my son.
It is graduation time again. Congratulations to all the graduating seniors out there. But congratulations especially to my youngest son. Yes, I am proud of all my sons, but this year, I am especially proud of you. Congratulations!
© 2019 Michael T. Miyoshi
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