Congratulations Brian!...

...for achieving your degree in business administration. It probably seems to you as if it took forever to reach the point in life you are at now. To your mother and for a shorter time me, it was the blink of an eye.

Your mother remembers attending your kinder graduation as if it were yesterday. You were five, and probably didn’t have much of an idea what the ceremony was about, but to her it was the accomplishment of your first educational milestone. And like all mothers, she was proud of “her Brian” and had thoughts and dreams of your future success.

I was here for your grade school graduation and vividly remember you proudly escorting your mother up the stairs to the second-floor ballroom, to be formally presented to the other graduates and their families.

I didn’t know at the time that you had been elected ‘mayor’ of your graduating class, so was surprised when you stood to make a speech. There you were; microphone in hand scanning the audience as you spoke, as if this was something you did every day. I told your mother that I was impressed with the way you conducted yourself the entire evening, and that you probably had the tools to be very successful. She already knew that.

Last Saturday your mother and I and other members of your family attended your college graduation party. I can’t begin to estimate the number of people who were there, certainly in the high hundreds. I do know there were dozens of professors, other graduates and friends who stopped at our table to speak with you and share your and their happiness.

It was fun watching the hundreds of young graduates, all dressed to the nines dancing, drinking, and laughing. You and they certainly earned this party. It’s been a tough four years at a top-rated university that has a reputation for being demanding.

In May your formal cap-and-gown graduation takes place. We’ll be there to applaud your triumph. You did it Brian…you did it! We’re proud, and we hope you are too.