The Graduation

High school graduation was yesterday. The twins, my youngest children, are now out of high school and ready to tackle the world (I suggested they start by tackling their rooms to clean them). They are good kids, all three of my kids are great people. They are better human beings than I will ever be, something their mother and I are most proud of as their parents.
We live in a small town. Our town has its share of problems, but there is a wonderful network of people who helped our kids grow up to be the fine people they are today. I grew up in an large urban metroplex where few people actually gave a rat's behind about you, so I appreciate this aspect of my town more than most. Graduation in a small town is a major social event. Ours is on a Sunday afternoon at the high school football stadium. Graduation Sunday morning finds most of the churches celebrating a special service for their graduates. The ceremony is at 2:00 PM and afterward families host a reception party in their homes. Like I said, it is a major social event in our town.
At our house, we had a come & go snack and desert reception from 3:30-6:30. Among the attendees throughout the course of the day were grandmas and grandpas, aunts and uncles, cousins, family friends, teachers, coaches, classmates, bosses, co-workers, priest, youth ministers, neighbors, etc. It was a blast. While moving around the house, patio and yard greeting and meeting folks, I stopped to have a look around to drink in the scene. It dawned on me then why my kids turned out to be pretty darn good young adults; because of all these people who showed up to offer congratulations, gifts, jokes and well wishes. Each of these wonderful people played a part, no matter how large or small, in helping my wife and me raise our kids. There was no need for any of these people to bring gifts as they had already given so much of themselves to help mold our family.
It is a wonderful thing to be so fortunate and blessed.