Classic Rant #255 (May 13, 2010): It’s Graduation Day

Well, not quite yet, but this Saturday, my daughter graduates college, and will receive her undergraduate degree in early childhood education from SUNY Oswego.

We are driving up from Long Island to witness this occasion. It's a long drive, but it should be fun.

The hotels around the college know that this is their time to make money, so they force parents to pay for a two night stay rather than one. Since my daughter is graduating on Saturday afternoon, if things were the way they should be, we could either drive up on Friday, stay overnight, see her graduate and then drive home. Or we could come up on Saturday, stay overnight, and go home Sunday.

As it is, we have to drive up on Friday and stay over on Friday night and Saturday night and leave Sunday morning.

That is how they do it, and I have heard that that is how they do it in just about all college towns during graduation weekend.

And, they also jack up the price for a room.

That being said, this is something that I am really looking forward to. I am very proud of my daughter, and I can't wait for her to get her diploma.

Since she is the child of divorce, she has had a bit of a rough go at it. I tried to see her every time my visitation allowed when she was younger, but as she grew older, we became a bit more distant. I am not going to say her mother's attitude toward me had something to do with that, but let's not mince words--it did (if you are in a similar situation, I think you know what I mean).

However, once she started to drive, things got a bit easier for all of us. She was able to come and go as she pleased, I got to see her more, and things improved between the two of us.

Now that she has been away at college, the distance has grown in both miles and our relationship. Let's just say that it is not at the best point right now.

But even when we disagree, we still say "I love you" at the end of our conversation--and I really do love my daughter.

I truly hope she succeeds in everything she does.

She has taken a summer job in Oswego, so I probably won't see much of her this summer.

But graduation is the start of the rest of her life, and I look forward to the day.

Since I will be traveling tomorrow, my next post will be on Monday. Have a good weekend.

I know that I will!