A letter to our daughter, Hannah, on her graduation day

June 4, 2019

Dear Hannah,

Today you’re walking across the stage, most likely in the gym at Blaine High School, to receive a diploma for graduating from High School.  Congratulations!  No one is surprised that this day has come for you, but it’s still worth pausing to reflect about the journey that you’ve taken for the last 13 years.  Ever since the world discovered that you were going to be born, our family life has been public.  Writing this public letter of congratulations seems consistent with our family's experiences.   

We’re celebrating your accomplishments today, but the celebration is much more than just yours.  Your mom and I are grateful that you could receive a public education.  And we don’t take that for granted.  We never had to pay for you to go to any class that you’ve taken, whether it was in the Anoka-Hennepin School District or at Anoka Ramsey Community College.  You come from a family of public-school teachers, so we have a special appreciation for all the teachers from Gage Elementary, Johnsville Elementary, Roosevelt Middle School, and Blaine High School.  We also give thanks for the bus drivers, the aides, the counselors, the administrators, the school board members, the janitors, the coaches, and many others who invested in you so that you could walk across the stage tonight at Blaine High School.  All of them deserve credit for your accomplishments.

I clearly remember your very first day of school.  You were up early; we took pictures; I can still see the pig tails in your red hair.  You were attending morning Kindergarten.  You took the bus so your mom I walked with you to the bus stop. I clearly remember the huge backpack that went from your shoulder to your waist that you carried on your back down the block of 22^nd Ave NW in Rochester.  When the bus came your mom asked the bus driver if he could change the bus stop to in front of our home.  I have the video somewhere.  Your mom’s request made sense as you were the only one on the bus.  You climbed on the bus and away you went. 

Now it's thirteen years later.  Where does the time go? That day seems like "just yesterday," just like today will seem like "just yesterday" at future important moments of your journey. 

Perhaps you can ask each person from our family who will celebrate with you today their "just yesterday" stories from their high school graduation.  I remember thirty-seven years ago on June 6th walking across a stage inside a gym at Worthington HIgh School.  I remember the bright red graduation robes.  Later that that day a small tornado swirled near Worthington.  My graduation party was at our home that afternoon.  I don’t remember much of what the commencement speaker said, but I remember standing in line and hearing someone say that our class would never be in the same place again.  And that was the truth.  Take a moment tonight to remember that truth for your class.  This will be the last time that your class of approximately seven hundred will all be together. 

As you walk across the stage tonight, you won’t carry a backpack of supplies.  Instead you’ll carry a cache of stories.  I remember that on the first day of each grade your mom would take a picture in front of the same chalkboard.  Those pictures will be displayed at your graduation party.  I remember the many school conferences where teachers would share how you were doing.  I remember when you stopped taking the bus to Blaine High School.  Two or three days a week I would drive you to school. I remember sleeping in a box with you nearby on the tennis courts of Blaine High School to highlight youth homelessness.  I remember the tennis matches and basketball games and track meets and the stories you told about your golf meets.  I remember the speech tournaments and HOSA parties and band concerts.  You’ll carry these stories and many more when you receive a diploma tonight.

           

Next year you’re going to Hamline.  And it wouldn’t surprise anyone if you receive more schooling after that.  Today—celebrate the present.  Your mom and I give thanks for all that you’ve received over this thirteen-year journey.  We love you and are so proud of you.  Congratulations!