Commentary: High School Graduation, Changed Lives Just Weeks Away

It doesn't seem possible, but it went by even faster this time.

When our older son started high school back in 2005, friends and family warned us the time would pass in what seems to be an instant. "Before you know it," they said, "he'll be graduating, moving off to school, going out on his own... ."

Nah. Three years is a long time, we said. We'll savor every moment.

The next morning, the graduation announcements arrived. Or, at least, that's how it felt.

When our younger son entered high school in 2010, we knew we wouldn't let it fly by the same way. After all, high school starts in ninth grade now. We'll have one more whole year to enjoy the experience. Plus, we've been here before. We know how to make the moments last, how to slow down the clock and enjoy the ride a little longer.

And then one recent morning, the graduation announcements arrived. Where does the time go?

With all the ball games and band concerts and driving lessons and school dances and church functions and summer vacations, how can it seem like just yesterday that he climbed out of the mini-van on his first day of high school? Heck, his first day of kindergarten?

That younger son, he's a lot like his older brother. They share many interests. They act a lot alike in many ways. But he's different, too. Maybe he's not as adventurous, but certainly less forgetful. The older one required constant motion. The younger one enjoys his chill time.

But they are both smart, handsome (so says their mother) and good-hearted. Just like we did for his brother, we pray Matthew is ready for that big wonderful, scary world out there waiting for him.

Things are winding down now. We're preparing for the invasion of family and friends who will descend on us to wish our graduating son well as he leaves high school behind and heads off to college. In the crush of all the graduation gatherings, the camera flashes and the teary hugs, he'll be just like his brother: Smiling, saying thank you, laughing, enduring it all until it's time to really and truly get on with growing up.

And that's the same, too. This one's ready, just like his brother, to take the next step. Time for their mother and me to get ready, too.

We'll be driving him to college, just like we did a few years back with his brother. This trip, though, won't be as long -- just 30 minutes, compared to four hours. And, because he'll be so close home, we'll probably see him more, at least for a little while.

The big difference will sink on the way home. When we dropped the older one off at college, there were three of us making the trip back. This time, it'll just be two, and the pace when we arrive will be decidedly slower than it was. No more ball games or teacher conferences, parent meetings or school functions. Just us empty-nesters, and all that freedom we've been dreading.

I'm not sure what my wife will be thinking, but I'm sure that at some point, I'll look back on the blur that has been our boys' lives at home and wonder: Did we miss anything? Will we forget it all in just a matter a weeks? Days? Hours?

I guess that's why we take all those pictures, save all those keepsakes, collect all those souvenirs, in hopes of remembering all the life-changing and meaningful events we've been through together as a family.

And then it will dawn on me that some things don't change. We won't forget because we'll still be that family. We may be in different places, doing different things. Already, our family has grown when Stephen got married.

But a family we'll still be. And that, unlike high school, will last a long, long time.

Commentary on 04/20/2014

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