The Minnesota Farm Woman

Graduation time is here once again, and this year it had been forty years since I graduated from high school. Forty. The big 4-0. Looking back, it is hard to believe that so many years have passed when it just seems like yesterday. 1976 was the year of  our country’s bicentennial and there was a lot of excitement in the air.  Although it was a long time ago, things were eerily similar.  It was an election year, and Gerald Ford was our president. Later that year, Jimmy Carter was elected. The Middle East was in conflict. We worried about the economy, the price of gas, and the jobless rate. We were listening to The Bee Gees, Diana Ross, and Elton John records on our stereos or perhaps the 8-track tape players in our cars. Much to my chagrin, disco music was becoming popular, but I preferred the rock and roll genre and still do. Just like today’s seniors, we could hardly wait to graduate and get out into the big wonderful world.  Although the draft was abolished in  1973 a few classmates joined the military.  Some of us were going right to work, some of us were going to college, some of us were getting married, and some of us  didn’t know what the heck we were going to do. I was madly in love with HIM at the time, and wanted to get married, but my parents thought I was way too young. They were right, as usual.  As that long-ago graduation ceremony ended, there were hugs and photographs, and a few caps thrown into the air. I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye to some of those friends that I had spent half my life with, but thought I would catch up with them later.  I got married a year later (still too young), and moved halfway across the country.  I would see some on occasion, and we did have a few reunions, but the class was never together again as a whole. I don’t remember which reunion it was, but years later, we were reminiscing and remembering those classmates who had passed away. We had nothing to write on, so the names were written with a borrowed pen on a clean white paper plate. The list was longer than anybody expected and a surprisingly stark reminder of how short life really is. The smiling faces, forever young in those black and white photos in the pages of the yearbook are how we remember many of them. Some of us still mention that paper plate list when we get together.  We are not disrespectful in any way, but we all look at each other and share a humorless laugh, knowing as each year passes, the list will most certainly grow longer.  For any of you 2016 graduates who might be reading an old Farm Woman’s words of advice, I give you these:  Put down your phones and cameras for a moment and look around. Make some real memories and keep them close to your heart. Those memories will be there long after your phone battery goes dead and you upgrade to the latest device. Call your grandparents just to chat because they will be gone sooner than you think. Thank your parents, teachers, and mentors.  Continue to make them proud. Volunteer.  Live within your means.  Better yet, live BELOW your means.  Go to college or trade school, get a job, or join the military, but do SOMETHING. Pay for your own stuff with actual money and not a line of credit. Don’t  drink and drive. Don’t text and drive.  You don’t want to make the paper plate list any sooner than you have to .  Congratulations, Seniors! You did it! 

*Dedicated to  the members of the Deer River High School Class of 1976 who are no longer with us. You are not forgotten.