Commencement day
In seeing the social media posts of Ball State’s graduation weekend, it occurred to me this was a milestone of my own. This year marks ten years since finishing my master’s degree.
In all the thoughts toward my ten-year anniversary in New York this August, I hadn’t stopped in a while to think about the other story. What “ten years since college” means to me.
I recall my posts marking a decade since my undergraduate degree. I remember accepting an alumni award in 2013. I noted how ten years prior to that moment I had stood in that same Cardinal Hall as a newly minted high school graduate. I also remember the subtle chuckles and, “Oh, wow …,” from the professors in the room for having brought up that fact.
Those distances felt smaller. The truths oddly comical. Now it’s ten years since the Summer I packed my bags for adult life. For some reason this one gives me greater pause.
It’s funny because adult life — if that’s what the hell this is — lacks frequent milestones. We invent them in our business world, whether fiscal years, quarters or agile sprints. Those give us drive and purpose in our professional lives, while helping fabricate personal goals like vacations, promotions or new jobs.
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A handful of life milestones are worthy of such celebration — weddings, children, moving. There are too few events we pause to celebrate in earnest, surrounded with people who supported us toward that occasion.
And yes, I speak only of events truly rooted in achievement or success, not loss. Those are another matter — unpreventable and without permission.
In 10 years of post-college life, I think to the positive milestones that have presented themselves. Attendance at more weddings than I can count on two hands. Newborns’ names attached to lovely people I still can’t believe have children. Vacations and weekend getaways, most alongside the same college friends with whom Meijer was our furthest venture from Muncie’s core.
The trips are often the most vivid memories. They’re also invented milestones for the purpose of bringing us together and experiencing new things. It keeps the friendships — and life — fresh. It’s a small continuation of where we left things back on University Avenue, now a decade ago.
The passage of time could not be more apparent as I see those photos from a soggy Ball State campus today. There’s no second-guessing or doubt, just a reminder of the importance in celebrating the milestones — big and small — along life’s way. And when they aren’t imminent, invent one.
Gazing at the degrees above my desk, I feel compelled to admit that it was merely a diploma cover I took back to the apartment on commencement day 2009. That was true for everyone. However, my degree wouldn’t be issued until July — I had yet to defend my thesis that April.
I had to ask permission to walk as a May graduate; it was quickly granted. I didn’t want to miss out on the pomp and circumstance, after all. So, this isn’t technically ten years to the week of graduation. I guess I have another couple months to go.
What was that about inventing milestones?
