May 19, 2024 Grad Walk

The beautiful young lady stood beside me. I felt a surge of pride as I stared around, many others were sharing in the moment. That lady holding my arm is my little girl, my daughter, the love of my life.

She’s not so little anymore.

How could the last twelve years have gone so quickly? 

After all these years she was passing on to the next stage in her life. She is graduating from high school. Hundreds of young graduates and their parents mingled in front of the sails in downtown Kelowna. Everyone shared in a day of celebration. Even though there are still another six weeks to go before school is officially over, it was a time to celebrate the passage of time. A time to celebrate the youth of today. 

I was very happy to see this day come. Yet a part of me felt sad for the end of an era. Soon she will be going to university and she’ll no longer need her dad to stand by her side. Still, she knows I will always be there when she needs me. My job will never end, it will only change.

Change. The only constant in life.

Where has the time gone? Soon she will move away, so I cherish every day and take pride in the woman she is becoming. I’m so lucky she has succeeded and will continue to do so.

An ache strikes my heart when I remember a time over thirty-six years ago when I graduated from high school. My graduation was not a proud moment for my parents. It was more like a relief. They would soon be done with me and I would be moving out. As a matter of fact, they gave me no choice, they gave me $ 700.00 for my first month’s rent and damage deposit and told me to go find my way.

It was the best thing they could have done for me.

Only a year later I started my own business and by the age of 23, I bought my first house. We all find different paths in life. I’m grateful my daughter seems to have found hers at an early age.

She’s not perfect by any means, and she has certainly given me my fair share of grey hairs. She’s eighteen now and in my mind an adult, yet in my heart she remains a kid. A kid who thinks she knows it all, a kid who won’t listen to her dad. My kid.

There she was walking proudly with her boyfriend down the waterfront. I smiled and took some pictures, that is my kid there. That beautiful; lady marching down the path of life. Marching forward, her future is bright and full of opportunity.

A beautiful lady, my daughter, a kid no more. Yet she will always be my little girl.