Graduation 2012: Look What Has Been Done

Graduation.

Nope. Not gonna happen. Never.

Except...well... My sister graduates from high school today. To tell you the truth, it's terrifying. The concept of my big sister being an adult, living away from home, can send me into hysterics.

But what can I do? The moment is so close. That instant that my sister and I have an eternal wall between us. Where she is a high school graduate, and I will be a mousy underclassman. These coming years will be her defining years. She will grow and bloom into a fine woman, of that I'm sure. What saddens me, however, is that I can't go with her. She will have to become that person on her own, and I will be forced to simply watch. I can't be with her as she struggles and prevails. I will, of course, always be her sister, and love her as such, but in these coming years, I can only give her my support. And that weighs on my heart more than anything.

So what's a girl to do? I thought I understood that life at home will be different from now on, but I fear the unknown. How am I supposed to act as an only child? Those who know me will agree that I am the annoying little sister, through and through. My family will be separated, never again in that comfortable state.

This train of thought led me to look around at the families of other seniors. Their siblings, their parents. I could bet that the empty-nesters-to-be were feeling the same worry and sadness I felt. Watching their little ones, now grown, fly off beyond the horizon with nothing but their family-instilled values on their back. That thought must also be terrifying.

I tried to find some comfort for us, for any of us having to let go of loved ones from all walks of life.

It is in this similarity, I found, that we can all let go of any anger, guilt, or anxiety over releasing our loved ones upon the world. Our lives are changing, but they are changing together. We will never be the same. Different, together. The time has come where such change is inevitable. We have to let our loved ones go so they can grow, but also so we can grow a little too. We will be different people now. Empty nesters, only children, households with one less plate at the dinner table.

Yes, the time has come, but look what has been done. The children have been raised in love and they have raised our hopes for the future. We know that the world will be a bit brighter with them in it, and our houses a bit lonelier. The world must turn, though. The world must turn, children must leave home, and we all must grow old. That is how it has always been, and how it always will be. We learn to accept, to let go, and glow a bit brighter from the inside.

Look what has been done. Wonderful, isn't it?

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