Congratulations, Graduates.
Graduation is a threshold, though it rarely looks like one at the time.
Beneath the stage, behind the diploma, under the polyester robe, and among the family trying very hard to get one decent photograph, is the heart of graduation. The truth about graduation – from preschool to junior high, high school, college and beyond – is that the moment a person steps across the stage they walk an unknown path into whatever comes next.
My own daughter has already crossed that stage, stepped into her full adult life, and is off on her own trail. Yet graduation season still gets me. Maybe even more now. Because once your own child has launched, you start noticing all the other launches happening around you, like the neighbor kids who used to wobble down the sidewalk on scooters, the family friends suddenly taller than their parents, the community’s children becoming themselves in real time. Sometimes I’m shocked at how much time has passed, and yet marking the passage of time with celebration feels just right.
This image captures that feeling beautifully. The blooming tree stretches across the foreground with springtime promise and soft white blossoms, while the green hill disappears into a misty wood. It is not a map but an invitation to be a trailblazer.
The quote attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson has long been a favorite for graduates because it says what adults hope young people will remember. Do not merely inherit the road. Notice where your own curiosity pulls you and be brave enough to begin before the trail is visible.
Of course, no one forges a trail without getting a little lost first. The free spirit in me hopes you will get lost more than once. Because those wrong turns, questionable decisions, and failures teach us more than the successes and lead us exactly where we need to go.
So, go where there is no path yet. And go with your whole strange, splendid self.
The blossoms will not last forever, but that is exactly why they matter.
