The music started and I instinctively realized that there was an unusual sensation in my throat.  I didn’t anticipate it.  I couldn’t explain it.  But there it was.  The gentle swelling in my larynx began in my chest and rose through my windpipe.  Breathing wasn’t difficult, but I couldn’t swallow.   Before I knew it, this inexplicable phenomenon found its way into my tear ducts and I noticed that my vision had become blurry.  While trying to refocus my eyes on the event before me, I noticed that my chin began to quiver.  And then it happened.

The door swung open and the graduates began their processional.  Paparazzi parents strained to catch a first glimpse of their young scholar as he or she marched proudly into the room.  Jackson followed directly behind his Pre-K teacher-saint, Ms. Kristy, and stepped masterfully down the aisle and turned  to take his assigned place on the front row.  The room was buzzing with the whispers of adoring parents, the unbridled wiggles of all the graduates, the unabated flashes of way-too-expensive cameras, and that song.  Years ago, I heard someone reach beyond their mental capacity to recall the title of this song.  “Pomp and circumcision,” she said with conviction.  I smiled and turned away to consider the implications.

Eight days after Jackson’s memorable ceremony, this whole scenario repeated itself in a larger, more public venue.  Thousands of people filed into the football stadium at McEachern High School to collectively bake in an open-air oven and witness the commencement exercises for the Class of 2012.  Nearly 500 students received diplomas and almost all their relatives received assistance from the swarming EMT’s who were called to the scene.  In spite of the sirens and heat, Spencer stepped gracefully across the platform and received his high school diploma.  He graduated with honors but no one felt more honored than me.

After watching two of my sons graduate this month, I’ve personally experienced the power and emotion of Pomp and Circumstance.  The song’s title is taken from Act III, Scene III of Shakespeare’s Othello.  The traditional definition of the word pomp is “a display of magnificence and splendor.” Perfectly stated.  The word circumstance literally means “to stand around,” describing a crowd that has gathered around a particular event or in honor of a special occasion.  Though few dislike the arrangement and orchestration of this march, most just ignore it once it begins to play.  We become so focused on the real subject of our pride and affection we tend to forget the song is resonating in the background.

From start to finish, the entire score of Pomp and Circumstance takes five minutes to play.  To us parents, that’s about how long it seems between the time your child graduates from Pre-K and his high school commencement exercise.  This realization pounces on you almost without warning and releases that extraordinary sensation in your throat, causing moderate breathing difficulty and blurred vision.  It happened to me when I heard that melody reverberating innocently while straining my neck and pointing my camera into the sea of bobbing mortar boards.  This past week, two heads came into focus through my camera’s viewfinder.  These are the kinds of pictures I’d grab if the house became engulfed in flames.  Even better than these images, I have the unqualified joy of being a father to these two remarkable young men – and one extraordinary daughter.  And so it happened . . . twice this week.  I sniffled while witnessing the graduation exercises for the classes of 2012.  Love those boys!  Pass the tissue, will ya?!