Commencement

The Sablich family is approaching the end of an era.

When you look at a family history within a community, the arc often covers a considerable span of time. I started school at the Blissfield Community School district in the fall of 1993, and my youngest brother in graduating in the spring of 2011. My family has been involved in this school system for 18 years... and I sometimes wonder why my parents are sad about the end of this age. Think about it- the majority of their MARRIAGE has been spent in some sort of affiliation with BCS.

Regardless, it is striking to consider the changes that have taken place in the world while our family grew up. When I started school President Clinton was still in his first year. Welfare reform hadn't even appeared yet and the majority of households did not have personal computers. President Bush the second had not even appeared on the horizon as a national game-changer and policy maker (ugh...) and we lived in the security of a pre-September 11th world. The war and the other war and the other war hadn't started and the global economy hadn't tanked. This country had not yet elected a biracial (and possibly Socialist :) president. Things have certainly changed in the last eighteen years.

And in my family... things have changed. We have gone through recreational league soccer and volleyball and softball and swimming and volleyball and baseball and basketball. We have traveled the country together and conquered the I-80 stretch from Ohio to Chicago- so many times. We have made good friends and said goodbye to dear family members. We have spent 18 years doing homework and attending parent-teacher conferences and fighting about bedtimes. We have attended spring recitals and band concerts and festivals and parades. We have watched endless baseball games and football games and basketball games and volleyball games. We have gone to church and on weekend retreats and attended revitalizing conferences. We have argued and struggled with the changing and fluid family dynamic as we grew together. We have become independent and dependent on stability at the same time, and we have watched our members come and go. We have changed.

It's an interesting vantage point, from this side of 18 years. And if you know my mom, give her a hug and tell her it's okay to cry. Pat my dad on the back, and watch him smile with pride. And then find my baby brother and give him your best wishes on his incredible journey and his incredibly bright future. I am ridiculously proud.