Author's Son Collin's College Graduation '06
The month of May is known for graduations and attendant celebrations. This May, I have a niece, Sarah, graduating from college and a nephew, Nicholas,
graduating from the IBEW program to receive his Journeyman Electrician’s License. Both Sarah and Nick have worked long and hard on their coursework, expanding their minds and their skill sets along the way. Their graduations are hard earned and well deserved (and we are very proud of them!).
It got me thinking about graduations themselves and how we don’t really need to restrict them to the month of May or to getting degrees from our venerable institutions (although those are important accomplishments). To “graduate” means “to complete a course of study.” It also means to “change” and to “go through progressive steps.”
One evening I was out to dinner with a number of my good women friends; we were talking about the fact that the real “raising” of our children was in the past. Although we had all poured our hearts and souls and brains (and, as one of them said, we have the damage to prove it!) into years of going through all of the progressive steps to raise them to be the best human beings they could be, it was a fait accompli. They had “graduated” and left the nest. And we realized . . . we had GRADUATED, too, and consequently, we are bona-fide Masters of Mom-ery (aka Motherhood)! With that realization and acknowledgment, we lifted our glasses and toasted the very accomplished graduates: us MOMS!
What are you doing in your own life and work to consciously progress through a series of steps—to affect a change or to make things better? To graduate (once again) and achieve Mastery? If you’re not in the midst of that process now, there’s no better time than the month of May to take that first step toward your own graduation. And while you’re at it, let’s all raise our glasses to toast all of the May Graduates (esp. Nicholas and Sarah!) and all of the Masterful Moms out there. Congratulations!
For Steps to Mastery: www.nancynoonanspeaks.com
Great post, Nancy. What this makes me think of is that “we’re never done.” Each time we progress through a series of steps and accomplish something, there is a time of celebration–and then there’s more to learn, more to know, and more to do.
The great opportunity in life is to constantly evolve and grow. In today’s rapidly changing world, those who are not lifelong learners are left behind. Those who do not choose to continuously set new goals and cover new ground are left behind. Those who “rest on their laurels” and simply revel in past accomplishment find themselves to be irrelevant.
So in a sense, life is about a series of graduations and celebrations : )
Comment by ava diamond (@feistywoman) — May 6, 2010 @ 5:21 pm
YAY for Graduation, and off to the next level of education so that I can be an Master of Special education. I also thought that I would let you know that your niece finally found her inner art. I currently have a piece of work in the student art show at school. I was selected out of many to display a piece of art. We all know that my drawings are at the level of an Elementary school kids so this is not it. Okay, I wont keep you guessing, its a black and white photograph. Ironically it is of a tree tunnel that is up the street from where BB and Gramps use to live. We use to beg them to go that way just so we could drive the road that was bordered by tree after tree. I found my art im me after all!!! We are more alike then I thought…
Comment by Sarah — May 6, 2010 @ 7:15 pm
Sarah, Congratulations on having your art work selected for the student art show! And as you know, art can be expressed in many different forms. The photo sounds visually arresting . . . you will have to show it to me some time. And, yes, we ARE more alike than you’d thought! Love, Aunt Nancy
Comment by Nancy Noonan — May 10, 2010 @ 10:43 pm