It's graduation season. And as surprising as I'm sure it is for my family members to see me preparing for a wedding (I'm sure they think, “Our little girl, she's not old enough to be married!”), I'm thinking the same thing of my cousin who just graduated and is starting college at Notre Dame in the fall.
When you look at the college-bound around you, do you feel the same? The "I remember whens …" And the inevitable, "You're all grown up! And I used to change your diaper!" What advice are you giving your grads? Here's something I wrote in a card to my cousin. It's advice that was given to me by lessons learned the hard way:
Life sometimes seems like one countdown after another—to exams, to graduation, to fall classes beginning, (to a wedding…). Anticipating exciting events and looking forward to their arrival with expectations, hopes, and joy is wonderful, but don't miss the wonder all around you, even right now! Never think of time as slipping, as something you must grasp at and hold onto lest it escape away from you. Time, each and every moment of it, is to be received as a gift. What will you do with the time you are given?
Our somedays are made up of todays.
P.S. Can you guess what I gave her as a gift? An alarm clock.
Get tips on planning the perfect graduation party in the April issue of West Michigan Woman! Click here to read the article.
Written by: Erika Fifelski is West Michigan Woman magazine's staff writer. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in journalism. Erika was born and raised in West Michigan, and after a brief stint on the sunrise side, she's home and loving it.
