Graduation Day by Nannette Croce

If all goes as planned when you read this I will be at Skidmore College for my daughter’s graduation. As you can imagine on such an occasion, I am waxing nostalgic––not about my daughter’s life, but my own.

I have a good memory for times past (not for things that need doing). This has provided me, at each stage of my daughter’s life, with an understanding of what she might be thinking and feeling. And right now she, like me at the time, can’t imagine a day when the thought of dorm life sends chills down her spine and ending her night at ten is preferable to starting it at that hour or later.

On my first job I shared an office with a fellow alumna of George Washington U and was horrified to learn she hadn’t been back to DC in four years. Washington, DC was my second home. I planned to return soon and often.

In the end, it took me five years and since my time there coincided with the Metro construction (yes I am that old), the city looked completely different the next time I saw it. I went back with my new husband. We had a little more money to spend. Though not flush, we could splurge on some of the restaurants I had to pass up in my student days.

Five years earlier I couldn’t have imagined turning up my nose at that deli we all frequented or preferring dinner for two and a glass of wine over a crowded bar.

When my daughter swears she’ll attend every reunion and maintain contact with every friend, I nod. Living the future can be more fun than knowing it.