CONGRATS HASH!

Finally getting round to blogging again, and pleased to announce that yet another one of my darling nephews has done it. Hot on the heels of big bro Lavin, Hashvin has GRADUATED (yes, from university, and yes, making me feel extremely old). There he is: Whiz Son (number two). Congrats Hash! There's always something about seeing someone in graduation robes that makes me stop and think... Part of it, I guess, is about missing school. The structure, the predictability, the ever-reliable odds that over the course of the day, at least one person you know - and who likes you - might have actually done the homework or read the reading and will give you the two minute version before class. Then there was the fun, skivving tutorials, the million parties. The lack of need to worry about tsunamis and planes smashing into skyscrapers. Life was good. And graduating, well, I guess it was the last hurrah before the real world sucked you in, mortar board and all. But that sounds more depressing than it should. What it is about more, really, is about witnessing milestones - and major achievements. It makes you stop and stocktake. You get hit with the realisation that time is passing at breakneck speed, leaving some of the "would be great to dos" that you carefully crafted (to be achieved by 20, to be achieved by 25, to be achieved by, whenever) shattered in its wake. There were dreams about doing my Masters, PhD (and having my name prefixed with a Dr). Contemplating another job that I was good at. Getting my second degree. There were other things - learn how to wakeboard, bowl with one hand, make amazing desserts. And now, counting down to my, well, 20-10th (Thank you Earl, I am ever grateful for the loan of the phrase) birthday, I realise that I have done few of these things. I jumped head first into my career, and am glad I did. I got married. As a couple, we now think for two instead of one. Suddenly, hanging on for dear life to a rope being dragged by a boat doesn't seem like that much fun, and (glancing at the scales), I realise I don't like desserts that much. I have no regrets, really. But I do sometimes wonder - will I ever really get around to finally doing any of these things, achieving those dreams? And, do I want to? I get the occasional pangs. Apart from receiving Hash's graduation pictures, today, I chatted to a good friend who gleefully announced finally getting his PhD by chastening me for not referring to him as Dr. Then, a second contact and friend called to say he was leaving his successful radio career (of, like, a gazillion years) to go back to school. His wife and two children - one a young teen - were also uprooting and moving to Canada. He had always wanted to study film and theatre, he said, and now that he had a chance, he did not want to look back on this moment years from now with regret. Makes you think. Art