Graduation Day

This morning at breakfast I gave Shameka a gold watch that was given to me by my parents on my high school graduation day 35 years ago. Shameka is my sentimental archivist, and I knew I had put it in safe hands. I doubt she will ever wear it, but I know she will never lose it.
Of course, just holding the watch in my hand brought back a number of memories from my own graduation day. I had hair down to my waist, and I had a waist. I thought I was HUGE and would love to be that size now. I drove a 1964 Chevelle Malibu. I had a very very cool teen bedroom all done in red, white, and blue. I planned to go to vocational school to become a nurse. I opened my first checking account with the several hundred dollars I received in gifts. I thought I knew about all I would ever need to know.
Shameka at 18 does know about all she will ever need to know- she knows herself. I was long past high school before I came to know myself well.
I hope one day she can pass that watch to her own daughter, and that she too will stop for a moment and remember that she had red highlights put in her hair for graduation day, that she was working at the Pie Kitchen, that she and her cousin graduated on the same day so the family as a whole spent a whole day attending graduations, that she went to a big party after graduation and that her amazing parents made the day perfect for her!