Pots and Pans
Thursday, March 7, 2013
IN THE next few weeks, we will all be a part of our children or love one’s milestone in life as we see them advance and step up in life for a better future. Graduation!
Coming from a big family (there were six of us) would mean several graduation rites for my parents to attend, be it kindergarten, elementary, high school or college.
It is and will always be an achievement for both the parents and the individual on this special day. The hardships, the sleepless days and nights and all the in-betweens during this process. Parents, for working so hard to earn their living and sending their kids to school while the students, working on their assignments, projects, examinations and other extra-curricular activities in order to pass (that’s the least) the course.
As a parent myself, I can now fully understand the meaning of “hard-work” to make the most for the sake of our children. When we were young, we take things for granted. And for someone to fully understand what life is, experience is the ultimate answer. So much wisdom comes as we grow older and wiser (?).
I guess all of us in our family did pretty well in school, me and my siblings. We didn’t graduate with the highest honors but we all did well. We finished our college courses on time, so to speak. Two commerce graduates, a medical technologist, a home economics degree, an engineer and a nurse, all within the specified period of time of four or five years.
As far as I can recall, my parents were able to attend my graduation. Only my graduation! Because my other siblings finished all their studies in Manila, so my dad’s brothers and sisters acted as their “parents” during those affairs. And it was not even in my nursing degree , but in my second course, BS Biology!
I never knew they haven’t attended any of my sibling’s graduation. No wonder it brought tears into their eyes. How proud and happy they were. It was all over their faces.
My dad never went to college because he has three younger sisters and a younger brother that he has to give priority to (and not to mention he got married early) while my mom, who was at the top of her class in high school, came home one day and was told she was getting married!
No regret there I presumed because if not for them, we won’t be here.
All of us ultimately were connected to business in one way or the other. Guess because we had that in our veins and we were all brought up in this environment. Not that I am complaining. In fact, I should be grateful because this was truly a hands-on experience for me.
It was only my late sister, Gloria, who was able to make use of both her learned culinary skills in college into real-life business. I, on the other hand, would always be a nurse entrepreneur. I was in the food industry half of the time while the other half was spent teaching nursing or culinary arts , although I also spent several years in the “real” nursing profession working as a psychiatric nurse in hospitals, both here and abroad.
Going back to graduation, I am definitely sure all of us have someone we know graduated at one time or the other. Be it family members, friends or acquaintance, we all have our shares of attending a graduation or two. Or even more!
It definitely gives us pride and honor to see our love one going up the stage to receive their “diploma,” garbed in their distinctive togas (and hoods for the college department). There would be so much photo shoots for this once-in-a-lifetime affair to be shown to the world through our social networking sites, right?
As a parent, I now look forward to my kid’s graduation. I know I will feel the same way my parents felt when I stood proudly in my graduation robe. This time, it is our turn as parents to shower them with our love, our time and our guidance as well as nurture them to become good citizens of the world.
It is now the time to face some uncertainties, especially for the college graduates. But then again, this is what life is all about. Challenges, indecisions, ambiguities, and even surprises for the years to come.
And as the saying goes (which I have to quote from a dear kumare and friend, Ms. Julie Cartagena-Ollada, a great and fantastic nurse inside and out) -- this is just the beginning!
Congratulations, dear Graduates of 2013!
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