alexander graduates (lyn)

It’s 95 degrees.  A sweltering hot day.  So hot, that Horace Mann has ambulances at the school just in case.  I wear a sleeveless dress with a sheer bolero top.  It’s so hot that I even take the jacket off and bare my arms. 

Alexander still can’t tie a tie, so he brings it with him, knowing we will see someone who is capable of this talent.  We get to school and see Dr. Schiller, the head of the upper division.  He ties my son’s tie.

The school looks beautiful.  Flowers decorate the stage.  My son, and 175 classmates, are ready for their big day.  Zelia and I arrive at 8; the outdoor graduation is to begin at 10, but the euphemistic doors are opening at 8:30.  Hordes of people surround the tent.  At 8:30, the ropes are lowered, and a normally reserved and sophisticated group of parents madly run to save seats.  It looks like the images on TV of Macy shoppers rushing in the day after Thanksgiving.  I’ve come prepared with pre-made RESERVED signs.  I get 7 great seats, close to the front.

I bring tissues, expecting to cry.  I don’t.  The ceremony is strangely unemotional.  While the speakers drone on, I recall Alexander’s entire education.  He began before his third birthday.

In Nursery school, I would regularly get phone calls from Wendy, the head of school.  “Lyn, I have Alexander here in my office,” they would all begin, and I could hear my son crying in the background.  It would break my heart, as the infringements were always so minor.  I hated Wendy. 

Alexander loved Manhattan New School and thrived there.  The teachers adored him.  He had many friends.  And he was easily at the top of his class.

When it came to Middle School, we looked at many.  Both public and private.  Alexander was accepted everywhere but wanted Horace Mann most of all.  His first day of school, on September 4, 2004, was a happy one.

And today, after 15 years of schooling, Alexander is graduating.  I am so very proud.