While I was not present for Micah's graduation, I watched on zoom. He did have family in the audience to witness the milestone, as did hundreds of other students being honored.
All over the world
ceremonies are happening, with gowns and tassles to mark the end of one endeavor, and the emergence of another.
Weekends in May are also packed with weddings, and friends will board planes and bring ribboned packages for those joyous occasions. The human tendency is to crave familiar faces when we step from one chapter in our lives to another. Probably the excitement we
feel bubbles out so copiously we need to share it. God math is such that delight is expanded rather than expended.
I like that we take turns. The line between those on the platform and those in the audience is permeable. Most of the parents earned their own degrees, whose dusty proof is in a drawer somewhere. Some of the younger siblings will have their day to wear a
mortar board in a handful of years.
Weddings, too, are a spiral. The parents who made promises twenty some years ago created a launching pad for these young adults to stride into commitment. Grandmothers in their favorite shawls and pearl necklaces will join the party too, as they remember their own ceremonies which were probably simpler.
Having witnesses is like a human camera. We are present, to the processional, and tears, and frosting, The adoring eyes render the whole event more vivid, as if our presence is the developing solution in a dark room tray.
Except that now everything is digital.