There’s something big happening at the Crook County Fairgrounds in Prineville on Friday, June 6. The 2025 senior class from Crook County High School will be graduating, and you’re all invited! Let’s all send some love to the many parents and caregivers in the grandstands who will be trying to hold it together just long enough to get some decent pictures of their graduates following the ceremony. After that, all bets are off. In fact, there really ought to be a “crying room” for all the mommies (and some dads) who just need to LOSE IT for a minute before rushing home to cut the cake and tie some balloons onto the mailbox.

Just like that day, when they held this child for the very first time, the parents will be tired and a little on edge because they’ve been preparing for this event for months. And yet, of all the thoughts racing around in their heads, the primary one might still be, “I’m not ready for this.”

At the same time, every parent will also be mindful of just how ready their child has been for this day, which seems to take an eternity to get here. And that, my friends, is how to celebrate. Not as if we just watched them take their first steps, only to turn our heads just in time to see them throw the mortarboard into the sky. But, as if every moment was intentionally leading up to this one and, because time never stands still, trusting that each child’s journey toward adulthood will continue the next day, only with a new point A to start from and a new point B a-ways off in the distance.

As parents, we’ve done our level best to see to it that Junior is ready, hoping that love has spoken the loudest and covered our multitude of parenting guffaws. But, just in case our incessant chatter about things like remembering to wear sunscreen or how learning to be a good roommate involves picking up dirty socks once in a while hasn’t adequately conveyed what our hearts were really trying to say, here it is, kids:

We hope you will know when to say yes and when to say no, when something is worth fighting for and when to have a seat and share some laughs with a friend. Never stop learning what it means to extend grace and forgiveness and that everyone has friend potential, even your enemies. May you grow up to be a leader, all the while knowing that your gifts and talents are on loan to you from God. Be quick to apologize when you are wrong and learn how to slow down and step off life’s superhighway for times of refreshing. We hope you will never make excuses, pass the buck or blame the government for your problems. Remember, you are stronger than you think, everything that you do makes a difference and your identity and your destiny lie deeply rooted in the One who made you.

Yep, that pretty much sums up what we’ve been trying to say all these years — even though it usually came out as, “Stop teasing your little sister, take your vitamins, and DRINK. MORE. WATER!”

Holly McLane is a Powell Butte resident. She can be reached at mclanefarm@gmail.com.