Celebrate!

I hang out or almost live at my Starbucks in the mornings doing e-mail and blogging almost every weekday. I have been sick the last few days and then was gone because of my great aunt’s funeral last week so the gals thought I had died or God forbid switched coffee shops. I want to intentionally hang out at the same places to get to know different people. One of the benefits of doing this is that I have become close friends with the manager of this Starbucks, Joseph. It has been a blast being able to abuse him a little in the mornings when he eventually makes his way to his store. We have partnered with a couple of different community events over the last year. I have invited him to serve on the Barrio Board. He feels free enough around me to ask to borrow my BBQ, tables, chairs and canopies for his daughter’s graduation party this Saturday.

I have attended a few graduations so far this season and still have a few more left. It is fascinating to stand back and look at the crowds that come to graduations whether they are 8^th grade, High School, Community College or University. Graduations are definitely a rite of passage for everyone today. Last night we were at a graduation for a newer smaller high school and there still seemed to be thousands jammed into this indoor arena. It was so crowded that it took almost an hour to find our graduate – Michael! One of the down sides to most of these graduations is the lack of awareness of the massive crowd that we are here to LISTEN to the ceremony and not to PARTY. Last night it was impossible to hear anything that happened.

Yeah, I’m the guy that grew up in the 60’s and loved to play LOUD rock music in a band. My wife still claims that I’m partially deaf from my loud intense guitar music when I was a teen. I claim that my hearing is just fine! I don’t need any hearing aid just turn out the volume a little and it will all be ok. The real test is that you can’t hear my music through my ear buds when I’m listening to my iPod. I think what stands out, which is sad, is the lack of respect most have for what is really happening. I agree that we want to CELEBRATE someone’s accomplishment but to do that we have to be able to hear when his or her name is called out over the loud speaker.

It was neat last night to meet Michael’s sister and Aunt. We have been around Michael the last year and it wasn’t until last night that we actually met some of his family. The difficulty was that the decibel level was so HIGH that we couldn’t talk at all.  I know that most graduations have long drawn out speeches by every board member or head admin person on top of the superstar students. So I understand why it is easy to zone out and just get on the phone or talk to your family member or special family friend. The challenge is that once a few do this it is impossible to hear much of anything.

I am fortunate to be around a variety of students that range from teens that break the grade curve and those that graduate albeit at the bottom but they graduate. (You know the proverbial joke, ‘What do they call the guy that graduates last in med school, Doctor!’ It will be exciting to see a couple of my gals graduate from 8^th grade this afternoon. Much as it will be just as moving to see one of my ‘superstar’ teens graduate with honors from High School on her way to a coveted place at the Naval Academy that took an act of God to get in there.

I’ll have to confess that I missed my undergrad graduations because we moved due to the premature birth of our Heather. Much like my Anne had to finish her Sr. Project at a distance, which meant no real graduation. So I have really enjoyed being at my Julie and Jon’s graduations from ASU over the years.  It was a very meaningful experience for Anne and I both to graduate with our masters from Westminster Seminary in the 80’s.

The biggest reason to celebrate is graduating from learning important life lessons. I just received 3 texts from teens, which want to work at 6:30am and not do the summer thing of sleep till noon. I know that one of the most meaningful graduations for me was seeing my mom, who was dying with cancer, attend my brother Scott’s PhD ceremony in Santa Barbara. Sometimes the most important reason for doing something is for someone else, like mom, dad or the grandparents. So celebrate!