Graduation Week

My father came from far away where the temperatures were barely above freezing the morning they left. My mother came too, breaking her "No Texas After April" rule. And a Chachi whose joyful laugh I can still hear. And my ever-faithful brother who has always been there for his nephew.

They came for his high school graduation -- to watch Ben walk across the stage in flowing robes with honors draped around his neck. They came to cheer as his full name was read aloud. They came to congratulate him. They came to toast him as we ate enchiladas and chalupas. And they came to see the last of "the boy", because as he showed us all, striding out of the crowd, he certainly isn't a boy anymore.

I was happy. I was sad. My cheeks got sore from smiling. My eyes got filled with tears as that man came down from the other side of the stage, beaming, waving to his friends in the band.

It lasted forever. It passed in a flash. And at the end, I sat on the corner of a bed and looked up with tears in my eyes and said, "This has been one of the best times of my life."

Oh for heaven's sake, what a wonderful week it was.

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