Moms of people graduating from high school and college, celebrate with me!

This is the first Mother’s Day without an offspring at home, but believe me, I’m celebrating. I’m celebrating my own graduation from the most demanding stage of life in human existence: parenting children into adulthood.

As I scramble to address graduation announcements and make travel plans for the end of this school year, I mark my own milestone, too. I emptied my nest when my youngest left for college in September. And in a few short weeks, my oldest will walk across a stage to graduate from college.

Indeed, as my friends at the blog Grown and Flown say, “parenting never ends,” but the undergrad stage is complete, and we deserve, at the very least, a new hat.

For 18 years or more:
We did stupid projects.
We worked well with others.
We did lots of homework. So. Much. Homework.
We pulled all-nighters.
We had lazy patches, got re-inspired, and buckled down again.
We joined clubs.
We felt left out.
We fell in love with our teachers.
We got mad at our teachers.
We felt proud of ourselves.
We hoped our parents were proud of us.
We pretended not to care whether our parents were proud of us.
We passed more tests than we failed.
We learned things.
And . . .
We made friends along the way.

So to the many amazing moms I know, and the legions of you I wish I could, congratulations! If you are planning a graduation this year, plan a party for yourself. You have earned it!