Commencing

Once a year I am lucky to have my mom come visit when she attends the University of Phoenix Online Campus graduation. Mom teaches undergraduate and graduate courses online in business and marketing classes, which means she gets to wear this cool regalia.

I don't know any of the graduating students each year, but that doesn't matter--it's still always so touching to watch the students who have worked so hard and the families that have supported them.

Naturally, it also brought back memories of my own graduations. I've been through three of them now: Albuquerque Academy High School (1995); George Washington University (1999); and SMU Dedman School of Law (2002).

In some ways they were pretty similar -- someone always points out that "Commencement" is both an end and a beginning...there are always speakers that any other day most students would be interested in hearing from but this day you just hope will be quick...you're both proud and happy to have survived, and terrified that you're now starting a new chapter of life...

Of course in other ways, each ceremony had its own flavor.

At the Academy graduation, I had the unique experience (well, for non-twins) of graduating with my brother Frank, who is 11 months older than I. What a wonderful way to finish school, to walk across the stage after my big brother and share the moment before we went our separate ways.

GW was pretty amazing since we our ceremony was on the Ellipse, which is between the White House and the Washington Monument. Naturally the outdoor ceremony made for some odd moments--the beach balls someone brought (deflated until partway through the ceremony) that came out during the keynote speech...the champagne bottles and flasks that followed...the overwhelming feeling that this was a major moment given the surroundings.

And my most recent ceremony at SMU, also most likely my last as a student, where I achieved a dream I nurtured since I was a small child by getting my law degree. Also, I didn't trip despite the most steps of any ceremony!

It's a good thing, every so often, to make sure you spend some time remembering these moments in your life.

This also seemed an appropriate moment in time to commence--conclude my semi-sabbatical from blog posting, and start a new chapter of posts. So here's step one.