Graduation:
March 6, 2007

My kid-lets graduated on Tuesday. The ceremony was the longest thing EVA! Not to mention that it was in the gym where it is below 0… All the teachers had to sit together so I sit on the end, freezing. Then I slouched back to get comfortable and prepare my self for the long haul ahead of me. When I look up, the Japanese teacher is looking at me and I can’t figure out why. Then it hit me:

Am I supposed to sit like this for the WHOLE ceremony??? If you don’t know me that well, I can’t sit still for more than 30 seconds, and that is SERIOUSLY pushing it. Program in lap, hands crossed, knees together, feet flat on the floor, feet side by side, no slouching, neck turned to the stage, body facing straight forward! The whole thing had my head spinning to get all the intricacies of sitting correct. OK, I’m a big girl. I can sit here like a grown woman. Apparently not, because after what seemed like an hour (15 minutes) I was frozen stiff and my left butt cheek had fallen asleep. You know when someone tells you “don’t scratch your nose” all of a sudden, all you can think of is how much your nose itches!?! That was pretty much the same thing. The more I tried to sit still, the more anxious I got. Needless to say, these three hours seemed like torture. I played with my camera, took pictures, folded my program into a little crane-esque thing, and managed to get in a solid 10 minute nap.

One thing that did really bother me: The only attendees of the ceremony were WOMEN. Since moms usually don’t have work, even these days, they were the ONLY people there. It was weird to see more actual graduates than people in the audience. Maybe it’s just not done in Japan, but in America my Dad took off work to come see me graduate because it was just as important to him (if not more) to be there, than my mom –who also works full time. I guess I just assumed that family ALWAYS came first and didn’t even bother to consider any other possibility. I felt sorry for the kid’s who didn’t have ANYONE there at all. I couldn’t imagine having no one there that was proud of you…and when your name was called: silence. I was never the most popular kid in school, but damnit, when my name was called, my cheers from the crowd were the loudest. My ENTIRE family, including aunts, uncles, cousins, the FitzGeralds, grandparents, Terry and Mark all made sure to woop and holler @ the top of their lungs like a bunch of crazed fans…I remember that me and Michael always had the craziest applause like we had won a Nobel Peace Prize or something. It used to embarrass me, but now I couldn’t imagine it any other way. It makes me happy that although I am Japanese, I was not born and raised here. I wonder how different my family would be if I were.

But, overall I guess graduation was alright, there were more formal proceedings… The kids all sang songs, gave speeches and thanked their teachers. The toughest kid cried like a baby, no one smiled except me, and then they were off. Off to the scary world known as high school. I feel sorry for them. Being a freshman sucked for me, nothing good can come out of being @ the bottom of the food chain, when you’ve been the head honcho for a year…but I didn’t tell them so. Everyone was really excited and I think I’m going to miss them, but only time will tell.