High School graduation was no big deal to me. 

I already had a job in Memphis singing for the summer and going back home for graduation seemed like a nuisance.  But of course I went.

This week, I attended another graduation… My best friends’ daughter.  This kid is the only person I’ve had the privilege of being in the room with when she was born.  I couldn’t miss it!

Parents, grandparents, siblings, friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, were all there and it was great people watching.  Some had on floor length satin gowns, others took a more casual approach and wore bike shorts. I saw one family member carrying a money bouquet!  Yes, please!   It was a melting pot of America all there to celebrate the same triumph … helping a kid to the finish line, at least for a few months before stepping up to run another race.  

“Pomp and Circumstance March No 1” began to play, and I started feeling a big frog in my throat.  Leave it to a song to cut right through to the big feelings.  

Why was I getting emotional?  It’s just a high school graduation. 

Instead of filming the soon-to-be-graduates filing in side by side, I turned my iphone camera to the parents.  And there was my friend,  the Mom.  Her face was filled with love and a bittersweet sadness.  I can only imagine a rolodex of family photos spinning through her mind and the pain of already starting to miss her baby girl was welling up in her watery eyes.  

When I got home that night, I pulled out my own graduation photos.  And there in the photographs were my parents’ emotions looking somehow different than mine, somehow deeper.  Were they thinking of past sacrifices, or moments they wouldn’t get back, or were they thinking of the inevitable hardships that lay ahead of me?   

You may be thinking … “duh!” … but there are some things only parents know. 

And even though I have a few I claim as my own, I’m not a parent. 

When I look at my high school graduation photos, I see my Mom with really short, gray hair.  She’d been through chemo … twice. Her hair had just started to grow back.  Had she just been thankful to be there?  I’ll never really know.  

Then there were my college graduation photos.  I was the first person in my family to graduate from college.  My Dad went to the University of Tennessee with the hopes of playing football for  Coach Johnny Majors before blowing his knee out pre-season.  He had to come back home never to return.  I wonder if Dad was living vicariously through me at that moment.  Helping a kid achieve a dream of their own must feel like a whole other level of achievement for a parent.  

My Mom and Dad should’ve gotten the diplomas. 

My Mom used to say “You left home at 17 and never looked back!”  I didn’t think much about it, but she said it a lot.  

Later in life I overheard my Dad mumble under his breath how upset she was when I left for school.  I had no idea.  That’s the kind of mother she was.  She’d rather cut off a limb than let her “loss” hold me back in any way.  

So, while I want to say congratulations to all the graduates this year because let’s face it, these kids made it through Covid and social media … I mostly want to say a heartfelt and sincere congratulations to all the parents!  

“You left home at 17 and never looked back!”  …Yeah, …well Mom, I’m looking back now.  

Stay Creatively Hydrated,

P.S. If you’d like to book a Creative Wellness Private Session, go to my Private Session page on this website.

P.S.S. It’s not just for Songwriters. It’s for any creative.