STORYTIME TAPESTRY

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Special Treat ??“ Kathy Whirity

June 17, 2005

A GRADUATION TALE~~2005

By: Kathy Whirity

It was Friday the 13th and by all accounts it seemed like bad luck would be the only kind of luck we'd have that day.  I am not a superstitious person, by nature, but I must admit, the following day's events almost seemed doomed to disaster.

  This was the day our youngest child was graduating from college. Illinois State University was the place of destination. Our day was planned.  We were to arrive at her apartment, go to a nice restaurant for an early dinner and have plenty of time to make it to her graduation that was scheduled for 7:00 P.M.

  We were running late but that was not the issue at hand.  Our real concern was the treacherous thunderstorms and their impending impact on our travels.

  With a two hour ride ahead of us we decided to stop for a sandwich to munch on the way.

It was then that our marathon of misfortune seemed to be in full swing.  Pulling out of the parking lot a large ker-plunk sound had us wondering what had just fell from under the engine.  Seconds later Bill realized he could barely maneuver the wheel to steer the Explorer in traffic.The rain was, by now, beyond being a downpour. Steering was almost as impossible as seeing through the windshield of blinding rain.

Bill managed to park the car safely in front of our house but we were only now realizing our real dilemma.  Time was ticking away and we were beginning to worry that we may miss our daughter's graduation.

Frantically flipping through the Yellow Pages yielded a dead end. Apparently this was a big weekend for car rentals. There were no autos available anywhere.

A call to our favorite mechanics left Bill with phone in hand as an answering machine relayed the recorded message that they were too swamped to take any calls.

  Bill took a chance and drove the short distance to Sinclair's auto repair shop  in hopes that one of the marvelous mechanics would deem our dire situation a priority.  It was our only hope.

Pat, from Sinclair, assured Bill the problem would be taken care of .  A broken fan belt was the culprit and within an hour we were on the road again.

  We arrived downstate much later than expected.  We raced to the restaurant with barely enough time to eat.  From there we sat in traffic as everybody and their brother headed toward the Red Bird Arena for the graduation.

Katie found her class and we were lucky enough to find a flower vendor who was selling $3.00 worth of flowers for $25.00.

   After sitting through the three hour ceremony we watched as our baby crossed the stage to receive her diploma. through happy tears and ear to ear smiles we witnessed a milestone that would be filed away in the memory banks of our grateful hearts.

   It took us an hour after the ceremony to find our beloved graduate. The girl who takes her cell phone everywhere left it in the car, causing us to get lost in a sea of 2000 college kids and their family and friends as we tried to find our daughter.

  After walking around what seemed like the whole campus it finally dawned on us to go back by the car.  Sure enough there was our Katie, leaning up against the back door like a forgotten soul. We could've killed her for causing all this commotion by forgetting the cell phone, but instead we hugged her and handed her the now wilted bouquet.  The Polaroids were snapped in the parking lot, in the dead of night.

It wasn't exactly the way we had envisioned this special night.  Ahead of us was the two hour ride back home with the threat of more thunderstorms leading the way.

  At first glance it may have appeared that this bit of bad luck was the direct result of an unlucky date on the calendar. But, I don't buy that.

  Things could've been so much worse.  If we had been on schedule that morning our car catastrophe could've happened on the highway, miles and miles from home. And the reality is that we could've actually missed our daughter's farewell from college.

  Had I been a superstitious person I might have blamed the blunders on Friday the 13th, though I know bad luck had nothing to do with it.

I like to think we were showered with blessings from above.

  Everything in life happens for a reason.. This was one day when I was thankfully reminded that things can always be worse.

Life's best laid plans may not always pan out to be a picture of perfection.

But when families share life's most special moments the memories surely end perfectly happy no matter what the circumstances. 

Bio

Kathy Whirity lives in Chicago where she shares her life and love with her husband of 28 years, Bill, their two daughters Jaime and Katie, and two rambunctious retrievers, Holly and Hannah.

Kathy is a newspaper columnist who writes sentimental musings on family life.  You may reach her by e-mail kathywhirity@yahoo.com