Girls in White Dresses

It’s graduation season, so how about some graduation memories? I have a few thoughts back to my own 1983 high school graduation.

There I am, in my official school-taken photo after walking down the steps from getting my diploma and shaking hands. I remember being so proud to wear the gold stole for honors grads. I also remember needing to wear a light-colored dress underneath, because those gowns were really thin and anything dark would show through. Also, I remember that that dumb collar-thingy kept shifting around and wouldn’t lay right. Oh well!

Graduation can be a time of tears, but I remember feeling really happy. Sure, I’d enjoyed school, but I was also happy to get on with “real” life. I remember sitting and hearing all the speakers extoll us grads as the hope of the future, etc. etc. etc., and trying to soak up the moment. Somehow, I knew that I’d never be so fawned over again in this lifetime. And that’s largely been true. So enjoy your days in the limelight, kids — they are so special, and so fleeting. And … and … now I’m feeling all King-Solomon-and-book-of-Ecclesiastes, and we don’t need that on a beautiful May morning, now do we?

So moving along, another memory associated with graduation is my record book, pictured above. I started this as a teen, probably because my mom had a similar one. I still have it, and it’s interesting to look through the pages and see the figuring of my organized youth. I list the clothes I bought (along with sizes, price paid, and store), each babysitting job, each piano student, etc.

Thankfully, I no longer continue this crazy-making ritual, but I found it interesting to locate all my graduation gifts listed on the final pages — because isn’t graduation an ending of sorts?

I remember how excited I was when my parents told me they would pay for my trip to Europe that summer with the Sound of America Band and Chorus. I had been planning to pay that, and with saving for college that fall as well, my budding finances were tight (although well-documented ).

I love that the monetary amount of choice appears to be $5. Who says times haven’t changed?

If you’re wondering about the owl items mentioned, those would be due to the fact that our high school mascot was the owl. I never found this strange until later years, when I mentioned it to people who made fun of it! Imagine that. I’d never stopped to consider that perhaps an owl isn’t a very intimidating figure.

What about you? Any graduation memories?