Scrapbook pages

For 199 Hartselle High students, Monday night culminated 13 years of education.
They were rewarded for their efforts in front of parents, grandparents, other relatives, friends and teachers. The event played out before a full house at J.P. Cain Stadium on a warm spring evening. Graduation meant the end of their high school career and the beginning of their adult lives.
Events that have occurred since their births brought to mind how much the world has changed since they entered kindergarten in 1998. From cell phones to Facebook, they have experienced many changes both good and bad. The information age continues to expand at an increasingly faster rate and the world they will be moving into seems to move faster as well. But for a short period Monday night many parents including myself may have thought about the first day they walked their child into kindergarten for the first time. The child that we dropped off at the door several years ago and worried about leaving is about to move even further away from our watchful eye.
One of the ways many of us save the memories of our children’s lives is through scrapbooks.
Many pages have been been filled over the last 17 to 18 years of the graduates’ lives. The young people who graduated this week were probably embarrassed by many of the pictures that have been shared with others leading up to graduation night. Numerous hours have been spent and probably even tears shed looking back over the lives of our children. Even more pages have been added in the last couple of weeks as end of the school year events have been added to the pages of scrapbooks.
But as the tassel was moved Monday night, you have stepped into a new part of your life. No longer are you high school students but young adults taking on the world. Many will enter college to further your education. Some will enter the work force. Others may join the armed forces in defense of our country.
You will have choices to make as you move into this part of your life. We have been blessed as parents to have shared your life with you and watched proudly as you walked up on the stage and accepted your diploma. You have unlimited opportunities in your life, many dreams to fulfill and lots of blank scrapbook pages waiting to be filled with all of your new adventures.
May God continue to bless you and keep you safe and know that you are loved from deep within the hearts of your parents.
Randy Garrison is the general manager of the Hartselle Enquirer.