Farmer's Market Graduation

At this time last year, we were dressing up and hosting family members for not just one, but two graduations. This year, there are no dress-up graduations in our family. But today, as I watched my son man his school's farmer's market for the very last time (only his current grade does it), it actually felt like a graduation of sorts. After I'd bought my requisite lettuce, spinach, and kohlrabi from my son and his classmates, I stood with a bunch of other parents, all of us captivated by how much older and more confident our children are than they were nine months ago on their first days manning the market. Obviously, it was not a real graduation, but it felt largely the same as one, for isn't that what you do when you sit in hot auditoriums watching kids in caps and gowns walk across a stage?
 
While we so frequently mark occasions with ceremonies, it is often the seemingly unceremonious moments that are the real celebrations. So, today, as I watched little vegetable salespeople and heard about every witty word in my daughter's yearbook, I thanked goodness for all of the no dress-up graduations that let us celebrate each and every day. I can see exactly how much they mean--and I don't have to get dressed up to do it!