measure of joy
June 1, 2014 § 5 Comments
I am cautious in my exuberance. Academic accomplishments are celebrated with words of appreciation rather than gatherings or gifts. I try to center my attention on the progress of effort over accomplishment; careful not to foster an expectation of grandeur in my children’s minds. There have been so many moments of carefully contrived simplicity that I have begun to wonder if I am undermining the magic of more.
Recently I caught myself rebuffing the formal activities thoughtfully coordinated by my son’s middle school to celebrate graduation; a term I hold with reverence as an accomplishment better reserved for high school and college. The energy I exerted pushing against the tide of anticipation was exhausting and contradictory to the spirit with which I embrace spontaneous moments of celebration for everyday measures of joy.
I was tallying gestures of celebration in place of gratitude for countless experiences that lent immeasurable growth. These past three years have been substantial and this ending leaves a legacy of friendship and accomplishment far greater than academic markers. We have navigated crises with strangers who became friends and we have grown collectively into readiness for new challenges.
I cannot celebrate friendship so mildly for there is no greater gift. As we move through the celebration and ceremony of the coming week I am embracing with unmeasured exuberance the quiet enduring blessing of our community of friends and this chapter in our story. More words of thanks, more excuses to gather in celebration, more moments of appreciation for gifts that appear in our lives wrapped in everyday experiences.
scribblechic 
Indeed, another way-point marked.
I used to think these milestones were linear, but they have come to feel more scattered. Perhaps they are closer to the stars, points in a lifetime that once drawn together reflect the shape of our story.
An excellent observation. Then, it becomes our task to do that skillfully and with integrity, thus fashioning the greatest gift we can give.
Said less gracefully, I am having a hard time being patient with some of the other mothers at my son’s school who are making his graduation rival that of Harvard. But you’re right about the energy. I’m just trying to accept and enjoy . . .
I expended so much energy worrying others’ gestures of excess might create imbalanced perceptions of accomplishment for my son that I buried my joy beneath layers of feigned disinterest; loosing sight of the weight of our family values. I won’t give the silliness false importance, but I can “accept and enjoy” the value of this fleeting moment.
Wishing you all the best as we share in this new milestone.