It was only a Monday, but the school had scheduled our graduation ceremony for the beginning of the week, so that the later grades could have their awards mid-week, capping things off with fifth grade graduation Thursday night and room parties and goodbyes Friday.

That’s a weird thing about Elementary school: In Pre-K or Kindergarten, faux graduation was all the rage. Babies of the family had gotten through a whole year of academia and their parents were celebrating by dressing up young children in mock outfits of adults ready to go onto higher education or enter the workforce.