Congrats everybody - can’t believe some of us have already graduated! We have another two weeks to go. D19 had her last exam yesterday, it was online and she celebrated by going to Jazz Fest for the rest of the day. Now she will work and relax until graduation.
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My D19 won’t graduate this year due to things like the remote internship she’s currently doing, but it’s way cool to see that next milestone hitting for so many here—congratulations, all!
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My D is on a gap year now (Boren scholarship) so will return for her last year of college in August 2023 and graduate in 2024. Her situation is normal for her, but I’m sad she experienced so little of her college. She studied remotely spring of her freshman year, all of her sophomore year, studied abroad all of her junior year (also remote classes but at least commercial spaces were open), and now is still overseas. When she returns to her US college in the fall, she will be entering the classrooms for the first time since March 2020.
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We are also getting ready for graduation here! My D will graduate on Saturday from SUNY Binghamton. She has had a really good 4 years there (considering the COVID effect) and has accepted a research position at Cornell Medical School. So she will be staying in NY (we are from MA).
Congrats to all the 2019ers and their families!
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So fun to hear all the updates for the 2019 group. Congrats to all the recent graduates and the ones to come! We are headed to Vanderbilt tomorrow morning for a few days of festivities. I really can’t believe it is happening already - seems so strange to think about all our kids have been through during their college years. S19 has gotten three interviews at deferred MBA programs and is waiting to hear from two more. Keep the updates coming!
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The parents of my kids friend group have created a group chat. We’re all going to get together over the graduation weekend. Our kids have been friends for almost the entire four years, and even all moved into the same “special interest” house together for their junior and senior years.
Over her kindergarten to middle school years, a large number of our own friend group formed around the parents of the friends that our kid made in school. It seems that her ability to find friends with amazing parents has not dimmed with the years.
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Congrats to all the graduating parents! It’s a little strange to see some of D19’s peers graduating while she still has a year to go, but in retrospect taking that time off was absolutely the right decision for her, both in terms of addressing her anxiety and giving her time to figure out what she really wanted to do. She’s been getting almost all As (with like one B+) since she’s been back, and is now talking about grad school vs before “I’m just getting this done with to get the piece of paper”. Her bff from high school dropped out of a CSU going into COVID, took some time off then went to a CC, transferred and is now at UC Berkeley … it works out for kids in the end. It’s been great to see how successful kids on this thread have been, and congrats to you all again, but I guess some of them need a little more time to figure out who they are and what they need.
We are looking forward to some quality family time this summer.
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This last school year D23 has hosted an hourlong radio program on Midd radio Sundays - typical college radio. Over fall and J term she did it with a friend, and the song themes were around being only children. Over the spring she did it herself each week being songs based on book in our family library (she would have “Guest hosts” sometimes). This Sunday her show was all about songs that she and her mom shared, music that her mom likes, and music that she forced on her mother (and me sometimes) in the car. She even tracked down songs from a Russian rock band of the 1980s that my wife had really liked as a teen. All in all, an excellent present for my wife for Mothers Day.
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How thoughtful of your D! I’m very impressed (particularly as someone who is very into all types of music)
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Lovely commencement ceremony for D19 and her New School/Parsons cohort yesterday. She’s been done since December and working since March (she had to take a day off from the gallery to attend), but I’m glad she wanted to participate. She was genuinely beaming in her cap-and-gown photos after — she isn’t a dour person, but that kind of effusiveness is rare from her.
My in-laws and mother were with us, a special thing since my mother-in-law has been fighting advanced ovarian cancer for six years. The venue was Arthur Ashe Stadium, nicely transformed into an effective graduation arena. It was fortunate that the roof was closed since it was a bit chilly (and the rerouting of LaGuardia planes during the US Open wasn’t in effect). Don’t think the ceremony was wildly woke, given the New School’s leftist bent, though you did have to accept the basic humanity of trans people — the main speaker was a straightforward and moving Jennifer Finney Boylan.
After I fought our rented minivan through hellish traffic back to Manhattan, we hosted a party at our apartment. D19’s three roommates and many of their family members came (one wasn’t graduating yet as she’d taken a semester off, so her family wasn’t there). A great time. Everyone got along well (including the divorced parents of one roommate, who managed to gracefully steer clear of each other).
It does feel different, despite D19 having been out in the working world for a while. Now her adult life has truly commenced!
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DD was home for the first wedding in her group of friends Thursday. This was a HS friend. We took mental notes what we liked and didn’t like because DD anticipates being engaged this year.
She had good news about a concern we’d had about a roommate this summer so I could relax about that. But then we had a big conversation about a promotion at work she needs to accept or decline next week. She’s been working with that department all spring in preparation and likes what they do but has recently decided that it’s way too much for a 21 year old with just 6 months experience (and in a different dept) to take on, plus she sees problems with the software and that it’s going to be difficult to get help with her questions. It could end up being a huge stressor for not much more pay. But she feels like they are depending on her since she’s gone along with the prep and certification thus far. She would love to be assistant, if that position existed, but not boss. So, no lack of things for Mom to worry about I guess.
She’s at her sister’s now but I get to see her one more time before she goes back as older DD is throwing a Bridgerton themed picnic party this morning that I’m heading to!
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You shouldn’t hold her back. Let her take the promotion. It is ok to worry inside ourselves without sharing those worries with the kids. As it is women take less risk in career situations that eventually adds up to slower career growth. My wife is always stressed about our kids’ workloads. I tend to let the kids run at whatever speed they want to run.
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So true.
I also wonder if bjscheel’s D turns the promotion down it could hurt her future prospects at that company. I hope not, but I have worked in places where that would be the case.
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So proud of all our kids, and feeling hopeful about the future of the world with them in it! D19’s graduation speaker, Payton Oswalt, was laugh-out-loud funny! He also praised their generation for lowering the stigma around mental health issues and working so hard to be universally inclusive.
We have all four grandparents with us for the weekend, which is a challenge and a huge blessing. My favorite parts have been watching D19 smiling and laughing with her friends, and singing the alma mater at the end of graduation, 30 years after I sang it at mine❤️.
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Tomorrow we start our drive to Vermont for D19’s graduation. My mother will be joining us there, and we were hoping that my MiL would be able to as well, but it didn’t work out (she lives in Israel, and it’s a long flight for a woman who’s 85).
We will be driving back, probably taking our time to drive through Vermont and upstate New York perhaps for the last time as our nuclear family. I also think that D19 will spend the first hour or two crying.
It’s been 17 years since she started her first day of kindergarten, and 16 years since she stood outside her school with her new backpack, waiting to go into her first grade class. It seems forever ago and just a few days ago.
I realized that, although we will likely see her graduating one more time, we will never take her to school again for her first day of school or of the year.
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My son is feeling surprisingly non-nostalgic about graduation. He said the same set of characters are going to move to a new 5 mile by 5 mile area about 40 miles north of school, from suburb to city. And school is a train ride away.
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Finally coming to the end of graduation celebrations with C23’s grad party this weekend. I am so tired.
I landed in Philly Mother’s Day weekend and it was non-stop from there. D19’s departmental celebration was Sunday afternoon with her college graduation held Sunday evening. We had another celebration to attend that day too. Commencement (all four schools) was held Monday morning. And the Bidens were there to see their granddaughter graduate so security was very tight. The wait time to get into the venue while everyone underwent TSA-level screening was a little over an hour. The actual ceremony was lovely though and Idina Menzel, the commencement speaker, was entertaining.
Now, D19 is relaxing at home for a bit before returning to Philly and work. She’s still in disbelief that college is over, but I am excited for the next chapter of her life. Congrats to all of our children for persevering despite a pandemic, virtual learning, and everything else. Truly an accomplishment in these trying times. Have a wonderful summer, everyone.
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Congratulations to all the graduates! S19 graduated on the 13th. It was raining, so they moved the ceremony to the gym, but he spent most of his four years in that building, so it seemed appropriate. We flew back the next day and the movers arrived at our new house with all of our stuff two days later. S19 stayed on for an additional week of R&R in Ohio, arrived in France on Monday and then left for the UK on Thursday. I believe he is on a ghost tour of Edinburgh at the moment, but he is also visiting a couple of schools where he’s been accepted to graduate programs. He’ll be back in a week and I think he’s hoping we’ll be all settled in here by then. Alas, I feel like we’re going to be living with the boxes for a long time . . .
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Just got back. It was a LOOOONG “weekend”.
Even before we came, D19 had her Lavender graduation for LGBTQ kids, where they got their rainbow stoles. Not every kid wore them at graduation, since some were not out to their families, and the photos from the Lavender graduation were not posted for public viewing.
Thursday there was a BBQ with the President, Friday, there was a reception for all the Neuroscience grads, where we got to meet all of D19’s faculty, including her faculty mentor, followed by live music.
Saturday morning, there was a mimosa brunch for graduates to meet Alumni organizations. Of course, D19 was lassoed in to being an alumni interviewer.
Saturday at noon there was the Posse graduation ceremony, where D19 got her Posse stole (she had two - her rainbow one and her Posse one). That was extremely emotional, especially since they opened the floor for families to talk. I have to say, I’ve never seen so many fathers choke up, not to mention siblings and mothers, and finally the scholars themselves. It would not be a big exaggeration to say that there wasn’t dry eye in the house. We also learned just how involved Posse kids are in Campus life. There is almost no campus organization in which Posse scholars are not extremely active.
After that, we had a graduation party with D19s close friend group and their parents. We already knew some of the parents, and were really happy to meet the rest. Our kid still has the talent of finding friends with great parents. It was really a great party - there was good food, and we also brought a whole bunch of traditional Russian stuff, including herring, sausage, cheeses, etc. People really liked it.
Breakfast and graduation on Sunday. It was great ceremony. The graduation experiences that my wife and I have had were either in other countries or for our PhDs (and as faculty) at large public universities. Graduation is one thing that small colleges do very well. I loved how for the procession to the graduation area, the graduates marched first, and formed two lines through which faculty marched to the stage. After the students walked, the faculty formed two lines and the new graduates marched through them, as the faculty congratulated them.
I’m sure that this is something that happens at many places, but it was the first time I’ve seen it. I was was able to stand right next to the lines and see my kid up close.
After graduation and graduation lunch, we changed, went to dinner, and then came to help D19 finally finish packing - 3 hours before she was suppose to vacate her rooms. Spent the night at our Airbnb, took my mother to the airport, and then the long drive home. D19 was emotionally wrung out.
We have some trip planned for the summer, including visiting family in Israel.
D19 seems to have found a place to live in Cambridge (MA), along with her first year roommate, and some MIT grad students. She starts her job/post-bacc in a lab at MIT in August.
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We had an interesting graduation weekend with S19 a few weeks ago, but overall we made great memories. We had a major car issue that my husband was able to repair and S had some kind of virus or gastroenteritis that led to him being in the ER until 15 minutes before the graduation ceremony. Talk about a stressful experience! The ceremony had been moved from campus to a downtown arena due to rain, so when we got him out of the ER (thankfully they knew he was trying to get to graduation so they tried to hurry him out after tests, fluids, meds) it was quite the race to get downtown. Rather than the dress I had planned, I had on exercise clothes 
, but at least I got to see him walk across that stage. There were a number of other wonderful events that weekend though, including a dinner with 7 families (a group of boys that met freshman year) that ended with a touching video that S put together.
S is en route to Portugal for a few days and will then be surfing in Morocco for a month before heading to Italy. He was accepted to Columbia Business School for their deferred MBA program and is waiting to hear from a couple of others. Life goes on and I’m trying to adjust to the empty nest again as well as this next chapter.
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