Having lived 18 years in the company of a child grown to man, today was the last; the last time I climbed the stairs to coax him out of bed in order for him to get to school.
He’s graduating on Monday. Commencing into a new way of living in the world and a new way of understanding himself in the midst of that world and the ground of his and my life is shifting in ways momentous.
Last night Cooper and I shared thoughts about this commencement into newness of life. We sought to remember what it was we were feeling as we graduated from high school. How did we knit the new and the old into our emerging sense of our selves? Who did we celebrate with and what really mattered to us and how different are we today in the longings we have for marking commencements and transformations?
Bearing witness matters. Finding company to mark these life passages matters. Stopping long enough to listen to our hearts and our souls and our longings matters.
So Jameson commences on Monday. And we commence with our lives, each one of us. Hopeful, weathered, vulnerable, and pregnant with promise.
How goes it with your commencing? What are the transitions you are marking and what lessons learned through your commencement from high school do you re experience with each new step into the unfolding of you?
And who will have Kleenex enough for this mother as she watches her son walk into the unknown glory that is his life?
E
Living Waters 
DO THIS MORE.
A big transition for me the past 2 years has been transitioning from single woman to a healthy, supportive partner – still working on it but think I’m making good progress! 🙂 This ongoing journey has made me the happiest I’ve ever been.
As for high school commencement….it felt like a doorway to adulthood….there was so much I felt that was unknown and uncertain.
Uncertainty is something that I’m learning is a permanent part of life and something that actually works to teach us many things.
Pema Chodron writes quite clearly about uncertainty (isn’t that ironic?)…..I love her books!