Waltz of Her Life

"It's a way different world now." Linda was glad her daughter had found her place in it.

Just a moment before Linda wondered if they would need to order out for food (since her stomach was rumbling and she was sure she wasn't the only one), people started walking toward the stadium. She walked between the two men in her life at the moment: Stephen and Matthew. As they neared it, Linda could see that it was little more than two big sets of bleachers on either side of a multipurpose football and soccer field. Rows of chairs had been arranged on the grass, yet the students stood around them, socializing with each other. Each of them wore a shimmering, royal blue gown and cap: the guys wore slacks and most of the girls stood bare-legged or wore hose. Droves of parents, relatives, and friends had started to fill the bleachers on either side of the field.

Matthew's nose wrinkled and he squinted while looking out over the metal bleachers and the field. "What division do they play in? One triple-J or what?"

Stephen said "It's Illinois Polytechnic, Matt. They probably don't even field a team at the national level. This is probably just for intramurals."

As they started walking over, Linda noticed that Molly carried a big, plastic bag filled with something that had to be light. Though the bag was big, Molly did not appear to be straining. After they walked through the gate to get to the field and the bleachers, Molly opened her bag. It contained about ten square, soft looking objects that looked like bases from a baseball field at first. She gave one to Linda, and Linda realized that it had a handle. They were seat cushions. "You'll thank me later," Molly said. "These metal bleachers can get awfully hard on the old tushie."

Unfortunately, she only carried enough for her parents, Linda and Stephen, Chris and herself, and Bobby and his wife. "What am I going to do?" Matthew whined.

"Suck it up," Stephen said, smiling. "You don't need it!"

Linda rushed to get them all seated so she could look around the field for Hayley. When they all settled in, she also gave thanks inside for the bright, warm sunny day. She remembered her own college graduation, thirty years before, and how happy she'd been. There'd been lots of trials and tribulations over the four years, of course. Lauren had died during the second to last semester of her college career, which made graduation more of a bittersweet experience than it would have otherwise been.