Today is Bard's graduation. We've been doing the Bird's Nest B&B for 15 years and we started with a Bard graduation. I remember it very well since it was the first and also we had guests from Viet Nam that did NOT want breakfast, they brought their own food. I remember Timmy and I cleaning the kitchen, smelling all the wonderful smells and wishing they had shared with us. Another Bard graduation guests I remember our parents and a grandmother. It was hot, very, very hot that day and when they returned the father's face was a beet red. A few minutes later the grandmother came down and asked for bug spray.."There were big black ants coming out in the heat". It took me a few minutes to find the spray, and when I went upstairs with it, the father was flat on the couch, air conditioner pointed at him. The grandmother grabbed the can of spray and started spraying everywhere. I didn't even see an ant, but she went into the bedrooms, bathroom and was going into the kitchen when I left. I thought the spray scent would kill the father, already weakened. Another graduation group were parents and grandparents, each arriving separately. The grandparents came first, driving a Cadillac with Florida plates. He didn't even get out of the car before he started complaining.."Terrible directions, just terrible" he scolded me. She handed me a suitcase to carry, although I wasn't much younger than her. We went up the stairs and entered the B&B. At this point, most people say, "Oh this is lovely", remark on all the room and the brightness and cheeriness. She just waved her arm over the freshly picked flowers on the table and said "Nice touch." They were the only people we ever had that didn't eat breakfast together. The grandparents ate at 8:30 and the parents at 9:00. It was surprising but certainly understandable.

My own Bard graduation sticks in my head because of Timmy and fireworks. We were all robed, marching to the graduation tent, when I passed Timmy, Maria and Jer and Timmy pointed to the front of his overalls and slightly exposed the contents - fireworks that I recognized as the "20 gun salute", a firework that shots rhymatically 20 times in a row. My heart sunk. There was exceptional security coverage because one of the speakers was a controversial figure from South America. We sat under the tent, everyone joyous, passing a bottle of champagne down the row, taking a swig and passing it on. I joined in, figuring I was going to see Timmy hauled off to jail, or worse. But Jer saved the day. I was told that when they called my name to go on stage, Timmy started to pull out the fireworks and Jer pointed at a policeman watching him....so, common sense ruled for once.

Another graduation I remember was a high school party graduation being held secretly in the woods behind our house. Sabra and her friends discovered it first, a large tent filled with teenagers and kegs of beer. We were all sitting outside, when Timmy stated he was going to get a beer from the party tent. He was already drinking from a plastic red party cup that he held in a crocheted purse we had found on the road...he called it his "beer cozy". I said I'm going to bed, not wanting to have anything to do with this and later was told what happened. Sabra and her friends peeked through the woods, carefully and quietly following Tim. They said he went right to the center of the lit tent, to the keg, held up his beer cozy and said, "I am Bacchus, fill my cup". Everyone looked and the burly guys in charge of the keg, took the tap, and filled his cup. I was in bed reading when I heard him rummaging through the closet. What are you looking for? I asked and he answered "fireworks". Apparently he thought because they gave him a beer, they deserved fireworks. Now the whole idea of having a party in the woods is so no one knows where you are. Not a good idea to set off fireworks...Again, Sabra reported what happened next. Timmy went into the woods, pasing a couple searching through the grass for her contact lens. The fireworks went off, and all hell broke loose as the burly guys came running through the woods, looking for the culprit. They were sidetracked by the couple in the grass, and Timmy made it out safely. He ran up the stairs yelling, "Shut off the lights, Turn off the lights" and Sabra and her friends all came in and hid. Kristin was the only victim, had run into the picnic table, trying to get in the house and hurt her toe.

So that's graduation. You experience many of them, but only a few stick in your mind. Like weddings....maybe next I will tell you what weddings I remember best and why.