I'm Retired! Now what?

June 5, 2026

When you’re a kid you go to your own high school graduation, and when you’re an adult you go to your kid’s high school graduation.   For a retired guy?  Well, that means your grandkid’s high school graduation!  I guess nothing makes you feel older than watching your grandkids graduate from high school.  However, I do suppose that watching your great grandkids graduate might have a bit more stinging effect.

A couple of Saturdays ago my eighteen-year-old granddaughter Nadia was picking up her high school diploma at the Denison, Texas football stadium.  Actually, if her older sister Harley would have stayed in college, I could have watched her graduate college by now, but that might still happen someday.  I’ll be the first to say that college isn’t for everyone, and there are a lot of rich and wildly successful folks out there that didn’t finish college.  However, most of them did finish high school.

Nadia is my stepdaughter’s youngest kid, and what I find interesting is the fact that I’m the same age as my dad was when I graduated high school.  So in a sense, I was standing there watching this kid walk across the stage in her cap and gown at the same age as my dad was when he watched me carry out such a milestone event.  I just like to think that I’m a whole lot cooler than my dad was, and I don’t have to worry about paying her college tuition next fall.  Also, unlike my dad, I wasn’t wearing a leisure suit to the graduation.

 Speaking of clothes, my stepdaughter Monica told me that she had to buy the ceremonial cap and gown for her little girl’s graduation.  “What?” I thought.  Back in my day we just rented all that traditional garb.  It’s not like we were ever going to wear them again.  Seriously?  Other than a costume party, where would you wear such an outfit?  And I’m pretty sure few scholars go to their college graduation with the idea, “I’ll just wear my high school cap and gown for graduation.”  However, I suppose it’s all a bit like buying a wedding dress opposed to renting one.  Then again, some folks do tend to wear those again and again and again and…  Oh well, whatever works.

Even with the gown on, my granddaughter said that she was told by her school to wear a dress, and I’m not sure if heels were mandatory, but she claimed that all the young lady graduates were encouraged to wear high heel shoes.  Although Nadia looked simply beautiful, I had to think of the safety risks concerning a bunch of jubilant teenage girls cruising across the stage in heels.   Fortunately, no graduates were injured during the evening’s ceremony.

High school graduation was one of those few times in my life when I was actually happy that I wasn’t all that smart.  My mom and my brother both had the brains where they had to suffer through the honor of delivering graduation speeches.  My grade point average, on the other hand, allowed me the freedom to just sit back and listen during my graduation.  At Nadia’s graduation the salutatory speech was delivered by a young man who gave a cool tribute to his mother who had crossed the desert from Mexico to offer him a chance at the American dream.  Even more impressive, the kid delivered half of his speech in Spanish.  Personally, I thought that was a nice touch.  If I would have had to give a graduation speech in front of such a crowd during my teen years, I probably would have struggled trying to dish it out in English.

Speaking of the crowd, the football stadium wasn’t completely packed, but there were still a lot of proud families there filling up the place.  With barely under 300 students graduating, the walk across the stage didn’t take too long.  Of course, with my measly high school graduating class of 95, we had plenty of time for three speeches and a song or two.  We could have probably thrown in a conga line celebration dance through the place as well.  Regardless how small my class might seem, one of my former co-workers claimed that his graduating class had less than ten students.  I can only hope that the guy graduated in the top ten.  Another co-worker from Allen, Texas claims he either had a thousand or two thousand in his class.   He couldn’t quite remember.  I’d say that’s a pretty big difference there.  Gee, what was he doing during high school?

The bad part about Nadia’s graduation was by the time the graduation had gotten past the names that started with “T” a lot of the crowd was heading towards the exits.  Me, being one of the proud folks whose last name starts with a “W” would have felt a bit slighted.   I’d want to jump up and yell, “Where are you people going?  I haven’t walked across the stage yet!”  The ceremony was mostly ceremonious though because Nadia showed us that the folders they received for the evening were empty.  The students would all get their actual diplomas the following week.   I guess that was to ensure that the kids didn’t get too wild on graduation night.  The school could use the threat, “We still have your diplomas, and we can keep them!” I don’t know how Nadia carried on her celebration after graduation.  Her parents just told her to be careful.  As for me, my high school graduation night was the first time I had ever tasted beer.  I was eighteen, and back in those days an eighteen-year-old could legally drink beer.  What did I think of it?  I thought it was the most disgusting thing I had ever tasted.  Sometimes the real education begins after graduation, and we got our diplomas at graduation as well.