SCHOOL'S OUT !

SCHOOL'S OUT !

School is over for another year in my small town.  There weren't any of the subtle--or not so subtle--signs that have appeared in other years to announce the last day of school for 2020.  The end finally came after weeks of online Zoom classes and lots of new ways to get used to "going to school" at home. 

Now that I don't have kids in school anymore and am not privy to the local school schedule, I depended on other signals to help me keep track with the end of the school year.  One was to note the cessation of school buses which typically arrived at the bus stop three different times in the mornings and afternoons every day.  The gaggle of parents visiting with each other at the neighborhood pool parking area while they awaited the departure or arrival of their children would suddenly be absent.  And of course, the kids themselves were no longer parading down the front sidewalk or neighborhood walkway with quick steps in the morning to catch the bus and a more leisurely pace in the afternoon once the school day was over.

THOSE subtle signs disappeared with the COVID-19 dictum that schools were to be closed until the end of the year.  Two plus months early. 

Once it got to be past the middle of May, I figured it was about time for the school year to be over, just didn't know what day.  Until Friday when we began to hear horns honking.  And they continued to honk for quite some time.  First far away, then closer and closer. 

I told Louis it reminded me of Saturdays in my hometown when I was growing up.  Saturday was wedding day at the Catholic Church, and after the Hisipanic couples got married they drove in a caravan of cars with their friends through Rawlins, all the while honking their horns in celebration of the morning's nuptials.  Some Saturdays the mobile festivities lasted until early afternoon, if there happened to be more than one couple getting married.  I thought it was a cool  tradition to advertise a wonderful event.

So, when the first cars appeared on our street lst Friday all decked out with signs and placards each announcing the name of a 12th grader, I realized it was a celebration for all the graduating seniors who had been denied a commencement ceremony because of the Coronavirus which has disrupted the normality of our lives for the last several months.

The parade had begun at the elementary school, drove past the middle and senior high schools, and then slowly drove past the administration building where each senior was handed his/her diploma before driving through each of the neighborhoods where the kids live. 

I'm pretty sure the same kind of thing happened all over the country, each with its own flavor to fete those who were graduating.

In the years to come when we are hopefully once again celebrating in traditional ways with those who finish their schooling, the students who graduated in 2020 will have a unique memory of speechless convocations and well-wishes with no personal contact.  (Maybe that ain't such a bad thing, after all!)

What a great memory....

Happy commencement to the Class of 2020 !