Graduation Day

Like so many, this weekend marks my high school graduation anniversary.  It’s that time of year, and many of us are reflecting back on those years.

When I was a kid, graduations were for high schools and colleges.  Younger than that, and you had end of the year assemblies, where awards for academic merits, athletic achievements and attendance were given out.

Now it seems like almost every single grade, including kindergarten, have graduations.

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Don’t misunderstand me.  I’m not suggesting that it’s wrong.  I actually think it’s a good idea to celebrate the transitions in life, to mark the ending of one era and the start of another.

That doesn’t happen too often once you get out of college, though I guess you could argue that a bachelor party is kind of like a graduation for the groom.

Otherwise, though, it’s pretty scarce.  When you land a job, or get a promotion, or leave a job for a better job, there’s no ceremony. If you correct a matrimonial mistake, and get a divorce, there may be drinking and you do get a legal document, but there’s no commencement.

I think there should be more of that.

We grow up with annual celebrations of our academic awesomeness, advancing from grade to grade with our friends (most of the time with most of our friends).  And then we go cold turkey.  Congratulations on getting through another tax season, now get back to work.

We should revel in our achievements, whether they are meager or massive.  Did you get through the year okay?  Did the good days outweigh the bad?  Awesome!  You get a gold star and you advance to another year, full of potential and opportunity!

The tricky part, of course, is for those who don’t feel like they’ve had such a great year.  Sometimes, we all feel like it’s so much easier to add up all the losses, because there are just so many of them.

But you know what?  You still get to graduate!  Every year, every month, every week, every day is another chance.

Even if you feel like you’ve lost it all, you get a do-over.  You aren’t being held back.  You’re being promoted, anyway. 

The truth is that in every instance, whether you had an “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” kind of year, or the kind of year when you felt like if it weren’t for bad luck, you would have had no luck at all – in each scenario there’s an opportunity to learn and grow.  And each experience, the good and the bad, make us who we are.

I had some pretty miserable years a while back. I was in the wrong relationship, in the wrong job, in the wrong life.  And while I wish I could have gotten past all of that sooner, to get where I am now, it still made me who I am.  It helped me learn, even if it was just learning ways I wouldn’t want to treat someone else.

The Beach Boys’ song, “Graduation Day”, which is actually a cover of the original tune done by the Four Freshmen, has been in my head a lot lately.  It’s seasonal, of course, which is probably part of it.  And nostalgic, as I see some of my old friends on Facebook planning to get together to celebrate our anniversary.

But I think it also fits with something that’s going on with Psychic Tapestry.

We have learned a lot since we went on the air last year.  We’ve talked to a lot of people, and we’ve gotten to meet many in person at events in Old Town and Las Vegas.  And while we hope that we’ve touched lives and helped in some way, we do have to acknowledge that our listeners, our Facebook friends and our Twitter followers have had an enormous impact on us.

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More than we ever thought when we did that first show at the beginning of last summer.

Teresa and I both feel like we can do more.  We want to do more.  I even get the feeling that we need to do more.

It’s one thing to do a weekly show on the internet, and an occasional appearance as we can.  But in hearing your calls each week, we feel like there are so many more that we could reach, if we just make a few changes.

So we’re making a transition.  We’re graduating.

Teresa and I talked about this, and we feel that the best way to try and reach as many as possible, is for us to travel.  We want to bring Psychic Tapestry to you.  Live and in person.

That will take some time to orchestrate, and it means that some priorities have to be shifted.

So we’re graduating from Starcrafts.  We have learned what we could with that wonderful place, but we need to have the freedom to be out, as often as we can, away from what had been a comfortable, safe berth.

I wanted to mention that for a couple of reasons.

First and foremost, I’m very excited about our plans to head out on the road.  I love the idea of getting to meet as many of you as possible!

I also wanted to explain that this transition is a choice, and it’s a good thing.  Running a retail shop takes a lot of time and energy, and we feel like it would be a better use of those things to move Psychic Tapestry forward, out into the world.

We both seem to believe we’ve hit the ceiling, learned and done what we could, and it’s time for the next phase.  And we have lots of cool things on the drawing board, and hope you can join us along the way!

The other thing, which seems almost silly to mention it, is that when you make a change like this, especially in the mysterious industry of psychic mediums, there are nay-sayers abounding. 

To begin with, there are plenty who don’t understand what we do, or try to do, and can only see us as scammers and charlatans.  All I can say to that is that our show is free.  If we’re trying to scam you, we’re obviously doing it wrong.

The other thing is that some will concoct stories about “what’s really going on”.  You may hear crazy stories about money, lawsuits, curses, etc.  I’ve even heard one about an evil landlord and a “real” medium who was threatening to expose us.

I’m hoping we can graduate from that, too, but since there are plenty of very well-known psychic mediums who still deal with that kind of thing, I’m guessing it’s here to stay.

Anyway, I got a little sidetracked there, but I just wanted you to know that we have big plans for this summer and beyond, and we would love you to be a part of it!  It’s kind of like I’m inviting you to our graduation party!

I’d just like to add that, if you’re going through a transition of your own, you don’t need to feel like you’re putting some sort of spin on it to make yourself feel better. Regardless of the circumstances, you’ve learned what you need to learn and, whether you feel like it or not, it’s time for the next step.

Congratulations, Graduate!