By Heather Spiva 
My head is about to explode.
My youngest, AKA my baby, is about to graduate high school this June. While that is a huge deal, I know what goes into graduation. It isn’t a simple thing. There is no “just a graduation.” Or a simple “end of the year” summation.
I have an older son who already graduated high school and college. I’ve done the parties, planned the events, and lived through the end-of-school-year activities. And I’ll be honest—my first thought with my second son’s graduation was this: I don’t want to do it! Please, don’t make me do this.
The dynamic funny-video-makers duo Penn and Kim Holderness have a word for this chaotic mess during May; this thing that parents dread every year’s end (especially if a child is graduating). They call it “Maycember.” Because that’s exactly what it is.
Getting ready to finish up the school year is like trying to corral Christmas and its myriad activities. It’s dang near impossible and if we do, we’re prepared to hibernate once New Year’s Day arrives. The only difference between Christmas and now is we’re doing the chaos in a different month.
It’s the parties, the meetings, the awards banquets, the field trips, the senior trips, the picnics, and the sports events. And don’t get me started on the cost. Might as well give up that spleen on the black market now just to pay the bills that the end-of-year events require.
But, as I sat down and tried to plan the graduation party, pay for the graduation, get the cap and gown, get the senior pictures, and put together the photo collage for the party—and everything else—I told myself to chill.
Sure, things are at a madness level around me, and I’m not ready to think through the emotional ramifications this event will do to my heart . . . that my youngest is going to be a high-school graduate ready to flee from his parents (he’s actually going to college in town, but still, I highly doubt we’ll see much of him). But I made myself calm down and think about what was really going on.
My youngest is leaving me. That’ll do a number on anyone.
I sipped my coffee and permitted myself to be just a little bit hysterical about it, but in a controlled way. The party, the family, the people, the events—that’s all doable. All I had to do was take one thing at a time and remember this is it. This is my last child’s high school graduation.
It’s not that I have to do one last party but more that I get to do one last party. I get to go through thousands of photos of my baby and make a collage he might like (but still wonder, as boys often do, why I’m doing it). He’ll thank me later . . . maybe.
As far as K-12 parenting goes, I’ll never have to help with another school party, field trip, fundraiser, or sports event.
When I think through this, it’s not that I won’t have to, it’s that I’ll never get to. That’s a sobering thought. My time here as a school-aged child mother is over. My role has officially shifted. The motherhood mantle has been removed as I once knew it and a new one has replaced it.
Moms, as we navigate this end-of-year craziness, remember to cut yourself some slack, relax, enjoy every event, and savor it because this is it! Once they graduate, they’re on to tackling the world.
Your child’s graduation shindig may be one last party, but here’s to making it an amazing one.
by Jamie Sumner 
by Cheryl Donely 
by Tabitha Milam 
