Ceremonious farewells... sweet and sentimental

Soccer seniors of 2013....

We are all the heroes of our own lives and why should we not be? That innate desire to be important and to be revered is but natural.  How many of us love to imagine the world would be lesser without us, maybe far from truth but it helps boost our self-esteem.  


I think every event in the world should have a farewell ceremony, be it a puny baseball game tournament or last day of school or work. Perhaps this desire for grandiosity in parting has prompted so many graduations. Often times, there is a graduation ceremony for pre-school, Kindergarten, Elementary school and Middle School in addition to the customary high school graduation.

A proud and yet bitter-sweet moment

This year, as I look at the poster boards of the seniors and moms walking around with roses, it reminds of the little farewell ceremony accorded to the senior soccer players and their parents.  Last year, my son and me debated on whether to be or not to be a part of this ceremony. After all, he had mostly coached his own soccer team this year, as subsequent concussions had prevented him from playing.  The little farewell ceremony at the soccer fields was rather endearing!

The poster board

All the parents put up poster boards on the stakes with the pictures of their son/ daughter ranging from childhood to almost adult. The other (mostly junior) soccer moms had put together a little arched doorway made up of balloons. All the senior moms/dads had yellow roses handed to them by their sons/daughters and they walked to the archway holding hands. I felt a lump in my throat as I stood with Haransh, under the archway holding hands, while another parent had a little something to say about each player including their plans for the future.

To think of it, thinking it as needless, we would have missed this beautiful gesture! Now having experienced it, we can say it is an appropriate way of bidding farewell to something you and your son/daughter so loved.