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Graduation season always falls between Mother’s Day and Memorial Day.

One of the few gripes I had about Stillman College involved graduation was it was always held on Mother’s Day. 

I remember the day when my sister graduated in 1989, it was a rainy Mother’s Day. We did not want my mother and grandmother to cook, and all of the restaurants in Tuscaloosa were packed. We ended up getting takeout at Kentucky Fried Chicken, a large box with mashed potatoes and coleslaw.

Things slightly improved by the time I graduated in 1992. Stillman College retained its graduation ceremony on Mother’s Day.  

My situation was a little complicated, things all created by me. I missed the Friday graduation rehearsal because I was interviewing for a job at The Biloxi Sun Herald. A day before graduation, I got caught up right up to our farewell banquet on things I missed.

I could not miss church service hours before graduation because they did so much for me. Things got tangled when my uncle forgot to pick me up at church and use his car. I got a ride home and picked up a car, with my mother along.  I feared the worst: being left out of my graduation march. Luckily, I was late with some of my classmates. No harm, no foul, as the saying goes.

The graduation ceremony went better than I anticipated. I earned a medallion as the top communications student. My sister cooked dinner at her house where the family gathered together to celebrate Mother’s Day and my graduation. It was a lesson, no doubt, she learned from her graduation.

By the time my cousin graduated from Stillman two years ago, the graduation policy changed. The ceremony is now held on the first Saturday in May. Celebrating at her house was more enjoyable than the experiences we went through.

 

James Jones is the managing editor of The Selma Times-Journal. He can be reached at james.jones@selmatimesjournal.com.