Rad Grad!

My son's Grad Day was a little CRAY

Image Credit - Olia Danilevich

Editor’s Note: republished by permission of the author (me)

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File this one under the category of….”Did That Really Happen?”

The day of my second son’s high school graduation was upon me - Evan was ready to take on the world. As a parent, it’s a time that you inevitably think of throughout the course of your child’s life. While I’d been looking forward to it, so proud of him and excited for his future, it’s also one of those landmark, lifetime events that just engulfed my mind and soul with thoughts and emotions racing around like a roller coaster in the dark. The closer we got to the big day, the more frequent and faster the rides became. I had mixed emotions but was ready to take it all in.

With the ceremony set to begin at 7:30pm, I pulled into the high school parking lot just after 5, wanting to make sure I got a good seat. I had ‘been there done that’ two years prior with my firstborn son, Brennan, so I knew how quickly the line would form. It was your typical California June afternoon – hot. With temps in the mid 90’s and no overhead shelter, I joined other parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, and students’ friends in line.

Two and a half hours standing in the heat? For us Californoids, no problem! Some enterprising female soccer students came around every half hour or so with a cooler full of bottled water for sale. Nice job girls. A mother and her two young daughters came by as well, selling “candy leis”…presumably to place on the grad students’ necks, although perhaps a light supper for anyone in line who was hungry enough to go there.

Did I mention it was hot? After an hour or so, someone had a heat stroke and collapsed. There’s nothing like a fire truck and ambulance on the scene to make time pass a little quicker! While we were all concerned about the person and hoped they were okay, I’m pretty sure we were thinking the exact same thing: hey you firemen and EMT’s - don’t go anywhere - any of us could be next.

Some in the crowd had brought umbrellas, and while my first thought in such a case is usually sarcastic in nature (duude, real men don’t use umbrellas!), I found myself secretly wanting to sneak under some of ‘em for a few stolen moments of shade until I got kicked out. Alas, the line finally started moving and like cattle we slowly started the trek towards the stadium.

My early arrival did in fact guarantee me a good seat: I was in front row of the Parents VIP Section on the field, directly behind the graduating students, along with my ex-wife who was yet to arrive. Evan told us he’d be in the last row of graduates, so it was special as he was only gonna be about 30 feet from us. Happy dad.

Some dark clouds started moving in just as my ex-wife arrived (so much I could say about that) and lo and behold, now there was a 40-percent chance of rain, according to the weather app. Go figger! While my ex-wife was worried about this, I told her it simply meant there’s a 60-percent chance it’s NOT going to rain, and to relax. One or two eye-rolls from her later and the ceremony was under way.

As it often happens, they bring out the big boys for high school graduations; the entire school board was up on the stage, along with foreign dignitaries, Heads of State, and members of the Royal Family. Well, the school board was there anyway. The school’s choir sang the National Anthem, the student body president gave a brief speech, and the principal approached the podium.

“Ladies and Gentleman, welcome! In light of the impending storm, we’re going to mix things up and pass out the diplomas first, after which point we’ll have the speeches if weather permits.” I was incredulous at first. Is she serious? Women, overreacting to a little weather! Just then, a HUGE roar of thunder came thundering down, and I thought maaaybe she was onto something. Upon hearing that diplomas would be handed out first, the students erupted in shouts and applause.

The clouds kept ominously oozing their way towards us.

Wasting no time, the first row of students were released, walked up and this party was ready to get started. There were four teachers calling out the students’ names as they received their diplomas, two on either side of the podium, with the students split on either side. “Michael Kenneth Crabtree.” “Emily Jane Scott.” They were calling the names FAST, just a second or two between students, and the kids seemed to be rushed but I’m sure they didn’t care.

Next thing you know, the second row of students was up there, and the names seemed to be announced a bit faster. The wind was picking up, and I could hear some “ooohs” in the crowd who had seen lightening, not far behind the crowd seated in the aluminum bleachers. A guy shouted out “Those people (bleacher crowd) need to get out of there!”, but it was all lost in the hurried rush of festivities. Yikes…..he has a point! I’m no Ben Franklin, but I don’t think lightning and aluminum get along!

It quickly became apparent that there would be no speeches given on this night - the sky was going to fall any minute. My main concern at the time was just wanting the rain to hold off until Evan, seated in the last row, could (dryly) have his moment. Sure enough, that’s what happened. In a harried flash and not what a parent envisions, his name is quickly called and while I was still shouting my “whoop whoop!”, the next student’s name was already being called too. But the smile on Evan’s face was good enough for me.

Everyone made it back to their seat, the principal announced that “this was it” and that all speeches would be done Monday morning and placed on the school’s website, for all to see who might not be able or desire to come back. Great back-up plan I must say. The next thing I knew, all of the royal blue caps were being tossed wildly into the air, and it was over. Within 3 minutes of THAT, I felt a little drop from the sky…

And all at once, it was absolutely pouring. If you’ve ever been to a high school graduation, you know that the moments afterwards are inherently crazy, with students wanting to find their friends for what could be final goodbyes, parents rushing in for photo-opps, and just a general crazy-fun atmosphere. But with an intense rain coming down and lightning very close by, well……let’s just call it MAYHEM.

While there were a decent number of students staying on the field and posing for pictures, the vast majority of people started moving towards the exits. And in a flash, it was all over before it began. I walked past one dad who was casually strolling along under his umbrella. Nice job dude. Turns out, you umbrella-people are smarter than me. Who knew?

At the time it all seemed so crazy, with people laughing, smiling, and just a general “this is one night we’ll never forget” type of feeling. It was intense, so fun and we were all drenched but in great spirits.

It wasn’t until the next day, home alone with my thoughts that I started reflecting some more.

Crazy as it might seem, this sentimental dad couldn’t help but feel robbed somehow. As much as I had mixed feelings about the evening in the days (and years) leading up to it, I was ready to DO THIS. But now, I found myself feeling a little cheated out of some special moments, and I also felt bad for some students who inevitably must have felt the same way (although Evan loved it). Some never had a chance to say their goodbyes to each other afterwards because it was just chaotic. Likewise, some parents never got a chance to see their kids or take pics with them afterwards either.

We can plan and prepare for something our whole lives, and in the end, invariably, it MAY not go according to plan.

In a twisted, metaphorical kind of way, there’s a great life lesson there for the graduating class of Lincoln High School:

Welcome to the real world kids!

Now go out there and kick BUTT!