Spotlight_Vol 24_Issue_3

CHILD’S GRADUATION How I felt as a Parent! By Elizabeth Spencer

To all the Mamas out there, I can’t tell you how you’ll feel when you wake up on the morning of your child’s graduation. But I can tell you how I felt (a few years ago now for me) and how you might feel when it’s your turn.

I felt hopeful.

I felt grateful.

I felt uncertain.

I felt excited.

I felt sad.

I felt joyful.

It reminded me of something. I think it was mother- hood.

There’s no one “right” way to feel, of course. In fact, “one” is not usually a number that’s up for grabs on the emotion tally of any given day and certainly not on any given bigger-than-usual day. I think when we’re staring down a milestone event or a shifting of seasons, we get scared because we think we’re going to feel a way we’ve never felt before… that we’re going to have to forge ahead and carve out a brand-new path. But—and this is somehow comforting—we mostly end up feeling what we have felt where our children are concerned many times before, if in a heightened version.

116 SPOTLIGHT MAGAZINE ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • VOL 24 ISSUE 3

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