Impressions of a College Graduation

Impressions of a College Graduation:

Recurring thoughts of the hospital room where a new father witnessed the birth of the infant son. The first cry with the first breath of air. Ejected from the warmth and safety of the womb; the first of a lifetime of struggle.

Juxtaposition the young man -- strong, intelligent, confident, responsible -- in a cap and gown and gold rope adornment, move the tassle from right to left ... a college graduate.  

Still important are the parents, but over the years progressively less so. Involvement became sporadic and often from a distance as the self-reliance of the youth grew, and necessarily so.

Always the offspring, no longer a child. The kilns of life have taken hardship and setbacks and good times and perseverance and determination and forged an adult ready to face a world where the only certainty is the lack of certainty.

And necessarily so.