Today was graduation day for the 46 seniors in our high school. All seven school board members get the dubious honor of being in the center of the event, so there I was on the mini-stage set up at one end of the basketball court. Monkey suit, tie and all. No blue jeans, no ball cap on backwards and forced to behave in a civil manner. 1200 eyes theoretically all focused at the podium a couple of feet to my right. Not a good time to mentally ask yourself if you are absolutely positive that you properly zipped your zipper earlier.
As I was raised in this community and then eventually found my way back, I know many of the parents, grandparents and other ancestors and relatives of a significant fraction of the graduating class far better than I know the kids. Some really weird thoughts went through my mind as I was mentally preparing for the event while on the drive to the school. Being 60, I have some pretty clear memories from 55 years ago. There were a number of kids graduating today who had great-great grandparents that I could remember from my early years. In one case, it was a great-great-great grandparent that I recall seeing and being told who he was. Man, oh man, does that make you feel like you are 200 years old, or what?!?! The other weird thing came up while listening to the graduation speeches. I looked out at one young lady and noted that she had two first cousins directly to her right and a second cousin on her left. And at the far right was a second cousin from the other side of her heritage. Near the middle of the first row of seats was a third cousin from a different limb of her family tree. Just a few seats apart in the front row were two young ladies descended from the great-great-great grandfather mentioned above with one at that level and the other being a great-great granddaughter. Several graduates are descendants of some of the very first settlers in the county, dating to the 1850's, roughly 15 years prior to statehood. At the other extreme, one young woman was born in Russia and came to the US as a preschooler, along with her brother, when her mother became the modern equivalent of a mailorder bride of a fellow in our county. She was one of the six co-valedictorians.
There was a standing ovation for one young man who completed his high school education despite numerous physical and mental challenges as he was helped across the stage by two assistants.
