About Time

In my “day job” I work as an administrator on a college campus. This is my fifth campus, and each year my favorite time is commencement. Not simply because it means that in a few short hours the students will be gone and I will have a semblance of peace in my daily life, but because I get to see young men and women cross a stage, receive a diploma and, therefore, their ticket to greater possibilities in life.

Each and every year, no matter the institution, the President or the commencement speaker instructs the students to applaud for their parents and to thank them for their support. The kind of support could be in a number of areas, but typically “financial” or “emotional” are at the top of the pecking order. This moment is always a crowd-pleaser, and there isn’t a year that goes by that I don’t hear a mom’s voice coming from the audience shouting what many are thinking, “It’s about time!”

Long gone are the days that diaper pails, spit up and carpools were a part of the daily grind. Instead, the calls and e-mails are about relationships, grades and job searching—and mom needs to be there. Hopefully, I will be able to help her get through it all … the accomplishments and the failures. And I’m not just talking about hers. Possibly the most anxiety-ridden part of it all for me isn’t worrying about when she will fail, but when I will. How will I be able to recover? Will she notice? Will I still be considered a good mom? It doesn’t matter how many degrees I have or how many years I’ve been working with young people, this is MY young person.

Maybe I won’t push her to go to college.

HAHAHA! Nope, not an option.

I mean, just for the simple fact that I cannot wait to hear her college president say these words, “And now, graduates, I ask you to rise and face the audience and show your appreciation to your parents for all of their support in providing you this opportunity and privilege.”

It will be about time.