For Wilshire Baptist Church
Last week LeAnn and I had the pleasure of attending the high school graduation of our youngest nephew Ethan. He was the last of eight nieces and nephews to walk across the stage and take that next big step on their life journey. Without children of our own, it’s as close as we can get to any sort of parental pride.
I’ve attended all eight of these high school commencements, and it’s been interesting because the kids have graduated from different sizes and types of schools – from a large public school in San Antonio to tiny Texline High, and from a small regional public school in Cimarron, N.M., to a private academy in Amarillo. Each ceremony has been unique and memorable, with graduating classes ranging from just seven to hundreds, and “Pomp and Circumstance” played by small ensembles and full bands. At Texline, there was a moment in the ceremony when the seven graduates walked out into the audience to deliver bouquets of flowers to parents, teachers and others who had helped them reach this milestone.
More interesting than the ceremonies is the varied directions our family’s high school graduates have taken. Their next academic steps have included associate degrees, bachelor’s and master’s degrees, PhD’s and medical degrees. Their job titles now include U.S. Marine Corps gunnery sergeant, working cowboy, scientist, medical doctor, family farmer, accountant and craftsman. Five are married, three are parents, and we just learned a fourth will add that to her resume in the fall.
Ethan will pursue engineering, but who knows what he will ultimately study and do with his life? It could be that his college experiences add fuel to the fire of creativity and entrepreneurship he’s already demonstrated. And like many of us, he could change directions many times over his working career.
Cooper, the oldest of our nephews, will retire next month from the Marine Corps after 20 years during which he led platoons through several deployments in Afghanistan and more recently trained young Marines in artillery. He’s looking to remake himself and has mentioned non-profit disaster relief, defense consulting and civilian law enforcement among the possibilities. He has lots of skills and talents to apply to whatever he does next.
All the nephews and nieces have turned out well thanks to firm but fair parenting, good schooling and exposure to faith and spiritual life that has added layers of compassion and empathy to their personalities and areas of interest. They’re also loyal to their friends, families and each other; all of Ethan’s siblings were at his commencement to cheer him on.
I’ve also heard them share some of the wisdom they’ve learned out in the world ahead of Ethan. Most of them have discovered what Dr. Seuss wrote about in his last book, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” published just a few years after Cooper was born:
“Wherever you fly, you’ll be best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.
Except when you don’t.
Because sometimes you won’t.
I’m sorry to say so but sadly it’s true
that Bang-ups and Hang-ups
can happen to you.”
It’s another way of acknowledging what we often say at Wilshire about having “a good life, but not an easy life.”
Ethan was asked to give the benediction at his commencement ceremony, and he left the class of 2025 with these words: “As this chapter of our lives comes to an end and another begins, I ask you, Father, for the strength to know that you have a plan for all of us, and that while we may not understand it or think it is easy, that it is the righteous path.”
Those are pretty good words for kids just starting out on the journey to pack and carry with them into the future.
Meanwhile, next year we’ll have a great niece and nephew graduating from high school, and there will be more after that as the years unfold. We’ll keep watching them graduate as long as we’re able, excited to see the places they too will go.