Went To Grandson’s Graduation Last Evening

911

911

Well-known Member
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USA
The title says it all. As I listened to the speeches and spoke to some of the kids after the ceremony, I was impressed by how well these kids are versed in different topics. The Valedictorian, of all people, was less impressive. He gave his speech twice. Being from Honduras, he gave the speech in English and then again Spanish, which I had mixed feelings about. That’s not what made me think he was unimpressive. He wrote a very good speech, but he was very different when talking to him, including his use of profanity. I ended up walking away.

But nonetheless, these kids today are mostly intelligent. I hope they use what they have been taught. Out of 405 kids graduating, only 1 was going in the service. I have noticed in the past that there was usually a handful that was service bound.

When I go to graduations, I flashback to my graduation. Things sure have changed. People don’t dress-up anymore. I saw young people in those torn jeans they buy off the shelf and the one young fellow wore a pair of cut-offs and a muscle shirt. I don’t need to see people dressed to the nines, but it is a semi-formal affair. I don’t look down on people who don’t dress well, but even if you shop at a consignment shop, that’s fine. You can get some nice things there without spending a lot. Maybe I am being too critical or graver over expectations.

At any rate, I enjoyed the program and the dinner we had afterwards. On Saturday, we were asked by our daughter to host the party because we have a large lot and the kids coming will likely hang outside in the backyard because we are setting up different yard games. I have the pool guy coming today to clean and check my water.
 

911 said:
I don’t need to see people dressed to the nines, but it is a semi-formal affair. I don’t look down on people who don’t dress well, but even if you shop at a consignment shop, that’s fine.
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I expect , even in a department store, they could get a dressy outfit for less than the designer jeans and shoes you saw.

When I graduated I loved the chance to wear a pretty, pink, ruffled, watered silk dress after wearing pleated skirts and loafers for 4 years.

I hope the party goes well, you're brave to host it! The kids are lucky to have someone trained in first response there.
 
Della said:
I expect , even in a department store, they could get a dressy outfit for less than the designer jeans and shoes you saw.

When I graduated I loved the chance to wear a pretty, pink, ruffled, watered silk dress after wearing pleated skirts and loafers for 4 years.

I hope the party goes well, you're brave to host it! The kids are lucky to have someone trained in first response there.
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Hey Della: My role is crowd control. We expect around 60 +/-, so we have a lot of food here. I told my wife, who came home last night from a 3-day trip that she was asked to make over 100 hamburgers and about 40 hotdogs. My wife said, “No problem.” I will admit I am no grill master, so my son volunteered his ability to handle that part. I can grill a steak or a few burgers, but over a 100 burgers. Nah.
 

Congratulations to your grandson, 911.

I'm really ticked off at my granddaughter's school right now. She's my youngest grandchild, Ariel. Fortunately, she's graduating Jr. High, or I'd be even more angry that the school is only allowing 3 family members per student to attend. What makes that crazier is they're splitting the class in half, with half graduating one night and the other half on another. How freaking small is the gymnasium that they only have room for half the class at a time and only allow 3 people to attend??

Makes no sense.

Anyway, I won't be able to go, and I'm really bummed. But hopefully, I'll get to go to her high school graduation. She's my last grandchild I get to see graduate. Well, until someone finishes college, anyway.
 
Murrmurr said:
Congratulations to your grandson, 911.

I'm really ticked off at my granddaughter's school right now. She's my youngest grandchild, Ariel. Fortunately, she's graduating Jr. High, or I'd be even more angry that the school is only allowing 3 family members per student to attend. What makes that crazier is they're splitting the class in half, with half graduating one night and the other half on another. How freaking small is the gymnasium that they only have room for half the class at a time and only allow 3 people to attend??

Makes no sense.

Anyway, I won't be able to go, and I'm really bummed. But hopefully, I'll get to go to her high school graduation. She's my last grandchild I get to see graduate. Well, until someone finishes college, anyway.
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I attended my son's graduation from Texas Tech years back. They wanted (or tried) to charge for tickets to the graduation if the student asked for more than two. There was just a rush on the school by relatives that they immediately changed their mind about any charging for extra tickets. They said someone erroneously had put that in the letter to the seniors graduating.
 
Congratulations to your grandson. Wishing him the best of success. Too bad the Valedictorian didn't use better judgement when talking with you. Back in the day, teenagers or even anyone younger than the person they were addressing would never have used curse words in front of that adult. I've called young people out, even in public, when they've cursed in front of me. I literally had to look way up at one young man, who apologized humbly. One young man rushed to open the door for my husband after I set him straight when we were on line at an ice cream parlor. He apologized a second time as we were leaving.

The boys have all wound up apologizing. For some reason the girls either look at me like I've got three heads or display smart a*s attitudes. Anyway, I would have ended that conversation with a teaching moment for that young man.
 
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Congratulations to your grandson and it's great that you get to host a party. That would be fun.

Are many of the kids vegans or vegetarians in your area now? That's how it is in my area. Just keep that in mind for the food. WHAT to cook as a main dish for the vegans? Boston Beans would suffice, but make sure there is no pork in them.

The vegetarians are mostly OK with cheese, so maybe grilled cheese sandwiches for them? Could also buy some of that Beyond Meat "ground beef", if you can find it.
 
911 said:
When I go to graduations, I flashback to my graduation. Things sure have changed. People don’t dress-up anymore. I saw young people in those torn jeans they buy off the shelf and the one young fellow wore a pair of cut-offs and a muscle shirt. I don’t need to see people dressed to the nines, but it is a semi-formal affair. I don’t look down on people who don’t dress well, but even if you shop at a consignment shop, that’s fine. You can get some nice things there without spending a lot. Maybe I am being too critical or graver over expectations.
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You should have seen some of the graduations from the "extra-special snowflake hippie-dippie college" my nephew graduated from. Everyone is supposed to dress to express their "interests" and "avocations" in some way.

That's fine in many ways....one girl was studying astronomy and had a model of the solar system atop her head. There were people dressed as fish and people dressed as surfers and a couple dressed as mountain climbers. I saw fairies and mermaids and clowns. You name it, it was there.

There were two guys, also, dressed only in tennis shoes and "tighty-whities". Total nudity had been banned two years before, so that was the best they could do. Yes, there had been total nudity in previous graduations. I'm sure dragging Grandma along to graduation wasn't always a good idea.

I have to say, it was the most interesting graduation I've ever attended.
 
jujube said:
You should have seen some of the graduations from the "extra-special snowflake hippie-dippie college" my nephew graduated from. Everyone is supposed to dress to express their "interests" and "avocations" in some way.

That's fine in many ways....one girl was studying astronomy and had a model of the solar system atop her head. There were people dressed as fish and people dressed as surfers and a couple dressed as mountain climbers. I saw fairies and mermaids and clowns. You name it, it was there.

There were two guys, also, dressed only in tennis shoes and "tighty-whities". Total nudity had been banned two years before, so that was the best they could do. Yes, there had been total nudity in previous graduations. I'm sure dragging Grandma along to graduation wasn't always a good idea.

I have to say, it was the most interesting graduation I've ever attended.
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Actually, that sounds pretty cool to me, so long as, like you stated, it doesn’t go to nudity. What I took issue to at my grandson’s graduation was the Valedictorian using profanity. When he finished I told him if he expected to go far in his career, he will need to speak using words found in the dictionary only. He kind of sneered, but I thought “You will learn.”

On the back of the program we each received was the following:

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift…that’s why they call it the present.” (Kung Fu Panda)
 
911 said:
Actually, that sounds pretty cool to me, so long as, like you stated, it doesn’t go to nudity. What I took issue to at my grandson’s graduation was the Valedictorian using profanity. When he finished I told him if he expected to go far in his career, he will need to speak using words found in the dictionary only. He kind of sneered, but I thought “You will learn.”

On the back of the program we each received was the following:

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift…that’s why they call it the present.” (Kung Fu Panda)
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“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift…that’s why they call it the present.” (Kung Fu Panda)

I've always liked that saying. Food for thought.
@jujube I would have loved to see that graduation, especially the mermaid. 🧜‍♀️
 
My children attended their graduation ceremonies somewhat grudgingly. Now, as staff, elder daughter finds herself on the stage party which she finds very boring. She related sitting there and watching one of the professors writing something - then she realised that he was doing a crossword.
 
jujube said:
You should have seen some of the graduations from the "extra-special snowflake hippie-dippie college" my nephew graduated from. Everyone is supposed to dress to express their "interests" and "avocations" in some way.

That's fine in many ways....one girl was studying astronomy and had a model of the solar system atop her head. There were people dressed as fish and people dressed as surfers and a couple dressed as mountain climbers. I saw fairies and mermaids and clowns. You name it, it was there.

There were two guys, also, dressed only in tennis shoes and "tighty-whities". Total nudity had been banned two years before, so that was the best they could do. Yes, there had been total nudity in previous graduations. I'm sure dragging Grandma along to graduation wasn't always a good idea.

I have to say, it was the most interesting graduation I've ever attended.
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I would enjoy seeing that kind of creativity. But if a few people went nude, well that's just being lazy, IMO.
 
I went to this year's graduation at West Point where the President gave the ceremonial speech. No comment.
 

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