Beginning

Graduation time is here. Time for ceremonies, reflection, class and family reunions; looking forward to parties, old friends and newfound relatives, new careers, more years of school.
Many of the stories I write have images fixed in my mind, while my art work often has a little story that goes along with it. I hope that you will enjoy my musings and my art work.
The picture I posted is a sketch of Simba, our fluffy, yellow cat, the most playful and affectionate of the bunch. After my oldest grandson's graduation activities, he brought home balloons which floated in the living room or were carried around to the den by the youngest grandson. As our graduate headed out for his new job, Simba was sitting, calmly, by the balloons, waiting. I thought it might be for his chance to escape into the outdoors. (So far, we have been able to keep him inside, except for one adventure when he was gone for a month.) However, Simba was just waiting for his chance to.....grab the ribbons on the balloons in his mouth.
Away he ran across the living room, trailing balloons behind him. His tail was crooked as he does when he is showing off and being very proud of himself. He had a big grin on his face. That is, until the balloons hit the ceiling fan, which was revolving, at the time. The ribbons wrapped themselves around the fan blades, and Simba kept going through the dining room and into the den. Fortunately, I was standing by the switch and had cut off the fan as I saw the balloons about to go into it.
Took a while to go up there and pull those ribbons loose with the scissors.I guess the deflated balloons can still go into the graduation memory book.
As I watched my grandson's graduation activities, and have sat through numerous other graduations as a teacher over the years, I thought of my own graduations, and of our upcoming high school reunion. It's very interesting to compare my grandson's class of 745 to our class of 19. We wouldn't have filled up even one row in that big arena. And, it's very strange to think of going from the "baby" of the class to being one of the older generation.
I will be posting some of my sketches of memories, along with more finished pieces. I like to use a Sanford, formerly Berol, Draughting #314 pencil and a Magic Rub eraser. The Draughting pencil is very soft and smooth, and you can get many variations in shading by using just the one pencil.
Congratulations, Graduates, and Families!