The issue of the Chinook Observer just out is one I look forward to every year. It’s the one that shows all the local high school graduation photographs. This year, for the first time, there were none of “my kids” pictured; the first graders of my retirement year graduated last year. (How could that be? What happened to all those Junes since 2001?)
Even so, there are familiar faces – “kids” I’ve known in the community, sons and daughters of friends, young men and women whose Senior Project presentations I judged not so many days ago. Some of these young people are already beginning to take their places in the work force of the community.
Inexplicably, when I think of past Junes, my thoughts fly swiftly past my son Charlie’s graduation. Nor do I linger upon my own grand exit from high school. Instead, it’s a diary entry written almost a hundred years ago by my Aunt Medora that comes to mind:
June 6, 1915
… Oh I had such a wonderful time last night. Why? Oh can’t you guess? Two dances with Alec and he wanted to take me for a ride during the 5th and 6th dances. I certainly had the most wonderful evening. I am so glad I gave Harry Stevens a bid for the prom or I wouldn’t have gone to this wonderful dance. I can hardly realize that I, an Oystervillian, am considered by the newspapers a subdebutante.
Medora Espy was ‘sweet sixteen’ and a junior at Portland Academy when she wrote these buoyant words. Although she was already giving some thought to her future (perhaps a librarian or a teacher…), the thought of graduation was still a hazy one. And, as it turned out, she didn’t live to see that landmark day arrive.
Still, through that diary entry, Medora’s words seem to forever capture the wonder, the anticipation, the excitement of being on the cusp of adulthood. (Did we all enjoy that time of our lives enough? Do our current graduates even have a glimmer?) Meanwhile… Congratulations, graduates, and may all your Junes be filled with promise and anticipation!
Although it is sad to think of Medora’s early passing, it is delightful to know that she was so enjoying life and had a magical night of dances and rides!