It wasn’t supposed to end this way for the Class of 2020. Many of you were in our bellies as we watched the Twin Towers fall the day our lives changed forever. The world that you have experienced is so vastly different from the one we knew. You came of age with the iPhone and streaming music. You knew more about computers in elementary school than many of us do today. You are comfortable speaking your mind and being the advocates that this world needs. You are world changers in the best possible way. This was going to be your time.
Spring of your senior year was the time for prom, and Senior Day and awards ceremonies and graduation parties. Grandparents should be flying to celebrate you. Accepted student days should be happening on the campus of your choosing. The missed milestones seem to be piling up. Sure, in the bigger picture of life {you know, a global pandemic} these can appear insignificant, but we, your moms, know that they mattered. They were the things that signified finality and accomplishment and you. We see you seniors, and we have not forgotten.
We are your moms. We are your biggest cheerleaders. That means that, once again, it is time for us to put on our “A” game. I, for one, am calling on the energy of childhood birthday party planning blended with a trip down the best of memory lane, to help you understand just how much we want to honor you. This is not an easy task considering that my senior was to have prom and graduation at Disney. The expectations were big. The plane tickets had long been booked. The perfect Cinderella dress had been purchased. We were ready to party. And now, this.
There will be no traditional stage walking for the Class of 2020. There will be no keynote speaker. There will be no perfect Insta pic of you and the boy on the California coast. I know. And I grieve {perhaps more than you do, sometimes} that you will not have the stories and memories of this season. But you have taught me time and time and time again that your resilience and fight and love for people is a foundational element of your being. So we protect those we love by staying home and honor that this is a special time to get creative all for the sake of loving you.
A Bigger Dream for the Class of 2020
I hate when I have to learn these lessons, but it continues to happen, so I will try to do it once again. In the face of disappointment I often look to the root of the sadness. This time, the answer lies in the fact that I just wanted to throw a celebration that was worthy of the journey that your high school life has been. You have been an overcomer. You have been an overachiever. And truth be told, I just wanted an over-the-top week to overtly lavish you with all the things. You deserve that kind of investment. As we have been sheltered together in the house for the last 6 weeks, I have come to appreciate you even more. Your tenderness and compassion reminds me daily that we don’t need to go to California for you to be celebrated. We just need to be intentional.
Intentionality looks, today, like your sister ordering props and creating Pinterest pages for your senior picture photos that we had to move to the backyard. It looks like your dad taking great care, even in the midst of stay-at-home orders to help you finish the special touches on your new Jeep. The two of you having a project together is something I hope you will never forget. It looks like thinking through every step of a stay-cation week in town so that we don’t skip even one “event” that was planned in early June. Sure, prom will not in a ballroom, but you WILL have on that dress and there WILL be perfect pictures with boy. We will have more than one celebratory meal so as to protect the grandparents that deserve to get to see you in that Amazon purchased cap and gown. We will tell stories and laugh and cry. All of these things can still be done close to home.
Solidarity, Mommas
{Side note to my fellow senior mommas. Let’s take this one to the next level. I think we are some of the most creative and hardworking women on the planet. What if the extra mile included reaching out to old teachers for letters? What about a video montage of people from the last 18 years of their life telling funny stories? According to my calculations, we are no longer going to be listening to a list of other names, so why not make the “ceremony” all about OUR kid? Pull out all the pictures that would have gone in the senior ads. Make a poster for your front door. Let the neighborhood know that your senior is not forgotten. Earn all their eye rolls…they secretly love it! We have this in us. We can do hard things. And if there is anyone in this world that deserves an extra effort, this amazing group of young adults deserve all of the love!}
As Houstonians, we are living proof that the hard things make the best stories. This will certainly be an unforgettable season. There may be some hard days. No one could have ever predicted that we would host AP tests in our homes and have to find a recording of “Pomp and Circumstance” to pipe into our living room, but these days will be remembered. We will look back on all that the world experienced in this season and know that forever – and I really mean that – because of these memories and intentional actions, our kids in the Class of 2020 will know the depth of the love that propelled them into adulthood.