Looking out the window of my office, I’m reminded of the famous scene from the 1960 film, The Time Machine. The lights are blinking, the dial is spinning and outside the window of Rod Taylor’s laboratory, the world is whizzing by.
My office overlooks the playground at Masuda Middle School. As I write these words in mid-June, the school is holding its eighth-grade graduation. Just four years ago, our oldest daughter was among the students crossing the stage, but this week I attended her graduation from Fountain Valley High School.
Gone are the days of a simple ceremony in the lunch area at Cox Elementary and the more formalized event on the lawn at Masuda. High school graduation is a sea of multicolored caps, gowns, tassels, and stoles denoting grade-point averages and other accomplishments. The ceremony was held in a football stadium, with wristbands for entry and security guards checking bags.
Tonight, I suggested we celebrate the first night of summer vacation with pizza, only to learn that both daughters had already left for an evening of parties. The forecast for tomorrow night is more of the same.
Like the clothes on the mannequin in the film, life is changing at an increasingly rapid pace. In two months, the older daughter moves in to her dorm and it’ll be time to start college applications for her sister. Sometimes I wish I could travel back, to a time when everyone was home for pizza on a Friday night. But I’m also excited about what the future holds for my girls and we won’t need a time machine to get there. It will be here before we know it.
SCOTT & ANNE ROGERS