pomp and circumstances

I love graduation parties!

     Seriously, I do!
     No, it is not the delicious food, which ranged from pulled pork to Mexican.
     And no, it is not the cake, although that does seem to be an inducement.  To be honest, having cake and cupcakes three times today has put me in a semi sweet coma.  I am really tired.  I don't think the yummy mints helped either....Kelly, I apologize if there were no left overs of those.  I may have had more than a few.
     What it is is to think that 7 years after having me as a teacher, a student had finally gotten over the resentment and fear....just kidding!  After 7 years students still had such a good impression of their year in fifth grade that they wanted to have me share in their special day.  And Jackie, not just me, by the way.
     Granted, a couple of parties were people who didn't have kids in my class as such...but they were in my room for social studies.  And they are  friends, but that doesn't automac\tically get you an invitation.
     Sometimes I imagine the conversation:
     Susie, who should we invite to your party?
     Oh Mom, we have to invite Mr. Dickow.....he was the best, funniest, most understanding teacher I ever had.  He inspired me to be an/a  ___________________ (here you fill in the blank:  accountant, teacher, juggler, speech pathologist, lawyer, writer, doctor, ne'er-do-well)
     And voila, I get an invitation.
      I always look over the class picture and photos before I go.  This year it was impossible, since I had failed to put the book together right after I retired and half of the pictures are gone.
       But I went through the high school graduation section, looked at the names, and remembered many of the kids.  I also wonder what happened to the others.
     I know a couple moved to Oregon, one is in the Caribbean (on an island, not in the water), another moved to DeKalb.....but I do wonder about where the rest of them ended up, and what their plans are.
     I also get to see people I enjoy seeing, like Molly, and other people I don't get to see on a regular basis..... and usually very infrequently at that.  (I don't know if that makes sense....blame it on the cake  And blame any typos on over sweets indulgence as well.)
     So to all the parents who have invited us to parties in the past, thank you very much.  I did enjoy having your children.  OK, I might have made them cry (Still Sorry Sarah) or caused them to dye their hair neon green,  but they were all great kids.
     I enjoyed being a part of their lives, however brief in the scope of time.
     And I enjoyed seeing them move on to the next step.
     It was a pleasure.