Making the best of the situation

If you are like me, there are events and activities on your calendar which you wrote down or typed in months or even years ago. While the birthday reminders are still applicable, nearly everything else has been cancelled or moved online.

Just yesterday, I removed the reminder on my phone about the high school band trip to New York City, scheduled for later this month. That event was especially hard to delete because not only was this going to be my first trip to New York, but it was to be the conclusion of one of the longest-played practical jokes.

My sophomore son, Ethan, plays the baritone in the high school band and was excited for the trip. But not excited enough to invite his parents as chaperones. To make up for this slight, my husband and I coordinated with the band instructor, Nate Hudson, to go along as sponsors….without my son’s knowledge.

All year long, we made payments without Ethan seeing the checks. If Ethan wandered up to Mr. Hudson’s desk in the band room, his teacher would subtly cover up the hotel assignment list showing that Ethan was rooming with his dad. Even Ethan’s youngest brother was sworn to secrecy and he can’t stay quiet for two minutes.

My husband and I had this joke planned down to the last minute.

On the morning of the departure to the airport, our plan was to drive Ethan to the high school, even though he is old enough to drive himself.

Our excuse: “We don’t want a car sitting in town all those days.”

We would help him load his bags under the bus, as we subtly slipped our bags onto the other side.

Our excuse: “We’ll get your bags while you load your instrument. You wouldn’t want to leave without that.” Valid reason since another son forgot his saxophone for the band contest in Grand Island one year.

And then we would all step onto the bus to find a seat for Ethan.

Our excuse: “We just want one final hug before you leave and make sure you have everything you need.”

And that is when we would find our own seats on the bus and wait for his reaction as he realized that his parents were going along on his trip. It was a lot of work for just a few minutes of glee, but it was the start to a great trip with a great group of kids.

But like nearly every activity, the band trip was canceled. And when Ethan reads this, he will finally learn that his parents had been in cahoots with his band teacher, sneaking around his back, which is why he didn’t invite us in the first place.

This week has been a little rougher than usual as school comes to an end for high school seniors, ending in a way none of us had ever imagined.

On Tuesday night, I looked at my son, Erik, who is a senior and realized that 13 years worth of schooling had just come to an end.

Rather than cleaning out a cluttered locker, he sat at the dining room table and emailed an essay to his teacher. Rather than the traditional countdown to the last day of school, the kids have been scrambling to complete their online tests. Rather than hanging out in the school hallway, they are sending approximately 6 million snapchats.

And rather than prepping for a graduation party, seniors this year are - like the rest of us - just trying to figure out how their world will function the next few months and next few years.

And the schools are doing all they can to make the year special, especially McCook schools. Every senior has a yard sign created for them, which will be on display in front of the high school during cruise night on Friday. A virtual graduation is planned for Sunday. And an actual ceremony is planned for July 31 if we can gather together in large groups by then.

I hope it happens since I am sitting on 115 graduation gifts purchased by the McCook Community Foundation Fund for all the seniors, with the intention of handing them out at graduation practice in July. This is usually when we remind the students that we want them to stay or return to Southwest Nebraska after graduation. This is when we let them know that they can do just about any job they want from here. This is when we tell them they will never be forgotten. And for the Class of 2020, that statement has never been more true.

— Ronda Graff celebrated her oldest son’s graduation from college Friday and four years worth of work with a group text from his siblings of “Yay, you did it.”