I recently had to help my son write a speech for graduation. And aside from being so incredibly proud of him (to his constant embarrassment) and occasionally tearing up because my baby grew up on me (to his constant embarrassment), it got me thinking a lot about how this is my accomplishment too. I did have a few people tell me congratulations when he was named Salutatorian of his class, and I constantly assured them that he did this on his own. He is an incredibly smart and motivated person, although also a procrastinator, which he gets genetically from me…oops, sorry kid.
But when I really sit down and think about the 18 years it took him to reach graduation, I feel like an upbeat celebratory graduation speech might be in order. So I took the speech we had written together and I thought about what I might say in this moment instead. And the funny part is that it was not all that different. As his mom, I worked hard to get him to this day.
Without further ado, I bring you “Graduation Speech by Mom.”
Good afternoon to our distinguished guests, and to the families, teachers, friends, and all the supporters of the graduates here today.
I’m “Mom” to a graduate of the Class of 2024. Today we gather to celebrate the achievements of our children, but also our own. We made it to graduation! Whether you ran, walked, or crawled through these last four years of high school, we are all nervous, excited, and proud to be celebrating the same achievement. We have all worked for this distinction.
All of us have experienced highs and lows in those four years.
There were days that we loved being the parent of a teenager and connecting with them on a level not possible when they were little. And then, there were the days when we counted down until they’d leave us in peace and go to college or move out. Many days ahead of us will be easy. We will feel a sense of freedom in having raised a human to adulthood and be proud to be adding one more good human to this cruel world. It is the hard days — the times that challenge us to our very cores — that will determine who we are. Those days will find us in absolute horror that time can thieve us of our toddlers so quickly. Those days will show us that kids really do grow too fast. And those days will have us longing to go back and do it all again, and to be sure that this time we say all the right things and hold onto our huggable kids just a little tighter. And let me remind you of this: we’re here because we learned how to step out of our comfort zones. We didn’t raise a child to adulthood by existing in the comfort of what we already knew. We clawed our way forward with our gut feelings, a lot of parental guesswork, and lots of help along the way. Many people supported us as we worked toward our child’s graduation day. All of those people that made sacrifices for us to succeed as a Mom, will get to see our accomplishment walk across this stage today and get a high school diploma.
Thank you to the grandparents who raised us with actual rules and then just let our kids walk all over them.
Thank you to our extended families and lifelong friends that became the fun aunts and crazy uncles, loving our kids enough to raise them alongside their own.
Thank you to our neighbors who became the safe adults that our kids could go to when their parents were at work and they couldn’t figure out what in the world to feed themselves all summer.
Thank you to the teachers and coaches that loved our kids so much that they gave up time with their own kids to help ours succeed in academics and athletics.
Thank you to the countless other Moms who gave us advice in every stage of motherhood for these 18 long-short years.
Thank you to the friends who stood by my child and made their time in school enjoyable and their time outside of school full of harmless pranks and lots of middle of the night food runs.
And especially thank you to my husband and “Dad” to this wonderful human we created together. To be completely cheesy, “Teamwork makes the dream work” and these years of raising our kid together have been the joy of my life.
So here we are, at the notorious finish line of motherhood. (Although we know it’s not really.) Look back on the journey that brought you here. The moments that challenged you most, those when you were asked to step outside of your familiar territory and rise to the occasion of your potential. I want you to remember those moments, because they will embolden you in the future. Raising a child is no easy task, and you completed it! So I guess I’ve said it all by now. I used quotes and metaphors. I talked about our journey and our future.
