The Ghost of Graduations Past

By Rosa Lee Richards

My last grandchild recently graduated from a high school somewhere in a galaxy far, far away. That got me thinking about the graduations I knew long, long ago in a county far far away. So, I pulled out my high school album and – wait, did I just give my age away?

You know, that high school album never answered the real questions. Like, would Jeanie and Jeff get married or would they break up for good? Would Harold go off to serve in the military like he wanted to, or work full time on the family farm the way his dad insisted? Would the shy girl become a schoolteacher after watching the class drive their history teacher into quitting? Would the mischief-maker who always sat in back actually graduate, or come back to haunt the senior class teachers next year? Those were just a few of the big ones.

Now the answers are clear. Jeanie and Jeff married but divorced after 25 years of ‘wedded bliss.’ They both remarried happily. Harold ended up back on the farm, but after his father’s death, he went into partnership with a builder, divided up the farm, and is now a millionaire living in luxury in a resort in Florida. Nobody knows what happened to the shy girl. She may be happier that way. The mischief maker graduated, last in the class. We stood up and applauded. The faculty breathed a sigh of relief. That’s graduation, fans! 

The Lord helps the fallen and raises up all who are bowed down. Psalm 145:14