Dan's Papers - June 22, 2007 - The North Fork Graduates

Maybe there's a bit less pomp nowadays, but the circumstances seem to remain the same. Family and friends assemble, from near and far, to celebrate a high school graduation. It is a good time.

At least it was for me. And it didn't even occur on the North Fork. No, I had to fly to Virginia Beach, Virginia, to attend the graduation of grandson Brian Buswell from Landstown High School.

Yeah, he made it. Not that his grandparents thought he wouldn't. But there were times when he seemed more interested in surfing Virginia Beach waves than studying Spanish.

Brian went to school all over the place. Born in Hawaii (his parents were in the U.S. Navy at the time), he had classmates in California, Italy, even Kansas. Yes, they send Navy people to Kansas.

Brian's graduation ceremony was held in Virginia Beach Convention Center. There were caps and gowns, of course. Speeches. Applause. Good wishes and gifts for the graduates.

And in the audience were hundreds of people just like me - grandparents who were proud. I don't know if any of them were from the North Fork but I did know that back home there were grandparents from Riverhead to Orient putting on their glasses to read graduation programs, writing out gift checks (what else?), and hugging the gowned grandchildren for dear life.

For example, there's Cutchogue's Ethel Jessup. Now Ethel, who is as lively as any 18-year-old, has not a grandchild but a great-grandchild who is graduating from Greenport High School on June 24. The young woman is Jessica Lott and great-grandma Ethel kept me on the phone for quite some time as she told me all about Jessica. (I was so impressed, I'm hoping to introduce Jessica to my Brian when he visits the North Fork this summer. Don't tell Brian, though. I want it to appear very casual.)

Anyway, Jessica is one terrific young woman and I can understand why Ethel is proud. First, and so important, Jessica was in the Honor Society at Greenport High School. And a cheerleader, a softball player, and band member (clarinet). In her spare time? Why, she baked for fundraisers all over town.

Did I mention Jessica's earned a bit of money, too? She's worked at Silver Sands Motel in Greenport and is now training in the new Southold Starbucks. That training will place her in Greenport's Starbucks, scheduled to open this summer. Once summer is over, Jessica is heading to SUNY Oneonta. Her two younger brothers, who share a bedroom, have made known they'd like Jessica's room. They're just kidding, they claim.

About Jessica's room - perhaps the brothers are better off staying out of it. For in the past few years, Jessica has turned into a kind of amateur entomologist. Her bug collection is extensive. A young woman of many interests!

Jessica does, however, have some 21st century passions. She's into digital photography and spends (according to Rob and Donna, her parents) too much time text messaging.

Oh, Ethel, what a wondrous world that has such great-grandchildren in it.

Anita and Joseph Kollen left their Southold home, heading to Guilford, Connecticut, for grandson Michael Haggerty's graduation from Guilford High School. The Kollens have 14 grandchildren so the grandchild-graduation was not a new experience for them. But special nonetheless.

Young Michael was, like Jessica, a good student. He played soccer and in the last few years was on Guilford's crew team. Matter of fact, Michael will be crewing for his college, Bentley, when he heads to Massachusetts to begin his freshman year in September.

Grandma Anita said Michael had summer and part-time jobs recently that made it difficult for him to visit the North Fork for a week or two as he had when he was a boy of 10 or 11. Those days, Anita reminisced, were so wonderful. Grandpa Joe likes to fish with Michael and the two of them spent long hours together fishing Long Island Sound. That memory, Anita and Joe? Oh no, they can't take that away from you.

So bring on the world. North Fork grandparents know that with graduates like Brian and Jessica and Michael, there's darned little the class of 2007 can't handle.