I hated my high school graduation.

I didn’t hate the actual ceremony, that part was great. What bothered me, was the lack of something amazing afterwards.

I wanted to celebrate my graduation. I had just completed four years of high school; going to class, learning, studying and taking tests. I had played sports, worked out and competed with other athletes, countless times. I had learned to navigate relationships, friendships and manage a work schedule. I wanted all of the growth that I had experienced, to be celebrated on my graduation day.

Some of the kids in my high school celebrated by going on a school sponsored senior trip, to Disneyland. I needed to save my money for college and none of my friends were going, so I didn’t go. Instead, my parents took me out to a nice restaurant and then I hung out with some friends. The dinner was nice, but the rest of the evening was really average. Nothing amazing or exciting happened. I don’t even know I was hoping for, I just know that I was disappointed. Without celebrating the end of my childhood, real life as an adult began the next day.

I didn’t want my children to have the same disappointing graduation experience. I didn’t want them to feel like a major milestone in their life had passed, without a celebration.

Fortunately, my husband and I had a plan. We decided to celebrate our children’s graduation by taking that son/daughter on a special “senior” trip. We would take care of all the details, all the child had to do was decide where in the world he/she wanted to go.

I wish that I could say that this crazy idea was our own, but it wasn’t. We copied it from the Beal family (my husband’s aunt and uncle). We first learned about their tradition many years ago, when our children were still young. We had stopped by to visit them right after they had returned from a ‘senior trip’ to China. When we asked why they had taken just one of their six children on a trip, they told us about their family tradition of senior trips. With enough time and planning, they had found reasonable fares, used credit card points and saved for their trip. We spent the evening asking them all about China. It was fascinating, and we loved the idea (thank you, Beals!).

Ever since that day, I have been eagerly looking forward to taking my kids on their own senior trips. Our family has has many interesting dinner conversations discussing where each kid might go.

When my oldest was in elementary school, he was obsessed with Egypt. He loved the pyramids, mummies, and pharaohs and he was certain that he wanted to visit Egypt. As he got older, his interests changed. Halfway through high school, he fell in love with Celtic music and their culture, and changed his senior trip destination to Ireland. My husband spent over a year researching and planning for our trip.

In 2017, we went our our first senior trip with our oldest child, to Ireland. We flew across the ocean and fought jet lag to drive all around the country.  We laughed at the crazy narrow roads and my husband’s driving. We got to know a sweet little old lady at our Bed and Breakfast. We explored castles and ate fantastic Guinness stew. We had great conversations about my son’s challenges, goals and dreams. We took a lot of pictures and bought a great painting to remember the trip. It was all amazing.

My second son graduated this year. He did not decide where he wanted to go until his junior year of high school.  After years of listening to his father dream about visiting a remote island off the coast of Chile, he chose Easter Island. My son wanted to see the remarkable moai that covered the island, just as much as his father. My husband spent and incredibly long time researching and planning for this trip. We all watched movies and read books about the history of the island, in preparation.

The travel took a really long time (five flights to get to the island), but it was worth it. We used our long layover in Lima, to discover a bit of the city and go out to eat. When we finally arrived, we were exhausted and thrilled. We explored the island on ATVs, spent time on the beach and some of us (me) even ran a marathon. Each time we toured a different set of moai, we were awe-struck. We snorkeled around bird man island and ate fresh sea food. We had meaningful conversations and got to know our son better. It was amazing.

I love celebrating the end of childhood and the start of adulthood. I love spending alone time with just one of my kids. I love sharing a new part of the world with my child. I look forward to each graduation celebration and senior trip.