Graduation Day

My baby brother is graduating from high school today. From the same high school I attended, though it's now in a new building. I can't believe he's old enough to be graduating from high school. I still think of him as about eight years old. But he's almost an adult now, taller than me and almost ready to move out of my mom's house. It amazes me how many years have gone by so quickly. I remember my high school graduation, with my brother who is now graduating out in the crowd. Even though my school was one where the audience didn't cheer for each graduate, my brothers made sure to whoop and holler for me when I walked across the stage, with the announcer mispronouncing my middle name (which was understandable, it's Hebrew). That was 11 years ago, and so much has happened since. I've gone to college, and managed to finish, and then start graduate school. I went to Israel, and brought Torah Judaism into my life. I've moved cities three times since that walk across the stage in Birmingham. The girl I was then is not the same person I am today. I wonder who my brother will be in 11 years, what he will have accomplished. Whether he will look back in 11 years and wonder where the time has gone and what a different person he is. What he will be doing, if he will be an uncle, or a father. I know it's cliche and typical, but I think Green Day's Time of Your Life wraps it all up: Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go So make the best of this test, and don't ask why It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right. I hope you had the time of your life. So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial For what it's worth it was worth all the while It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right. I hope you had the time of your life.