I can't believe the school year is almost over. Lucky for me, I like graduation ceremonies, because I'll be going to a few of them this year. Whether it's a college, high school or even middle school rite of passage, the ceremony marks the students' accomplishments as they go forward into a new stage of their lives.

Graduations aren't just rites of passage for students. We parents pass into a new life, too. We pass from being homework helpers, chauffeurs and football moms and soccer dads to being "empty nesters" whose kids call home from college to ask for money or to say thanks for the care package. Instead of telling them to clean up their rooms, we try to figure out if the newly emptied space will be an office or a craft room. We pass from child-adult relationships to adult-adult relationships with our children.

But even after college, after marriage, after children of their own, sometimes we'll still look at them and see a child in diapers looking up at us with wonder and curiosity. Those moments never leave us. As my sister says, "Memories. That's one of the best things about being a parent."

Your "They Grow Up SO Fast" Gift Guru,
Linda