It's graduation season. Many, many cauliflowers are grabbing their diplomas and heading for the employment salad bar.

Yum.
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TRUST THE DREAMS...
"Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity." ~ Kahlil Gibran

In Hawaii, graduations are true celebrations of life's passionate colors. After the ceremony, family and friends meet at a designated area and give the graduate a lei, kiss, and hug. The warm exchange is priceless.

The leis keep coming until flowers smother the tiptop of the graduate's head with fragrance and aloha. Happiness and pride caress the air.
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THOSE WHO BELIEVE…
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Don't get me wrong, flower leis up to the sky are the best, but I always appreciated my Japanese Aunty's money lei. When I graduated from high school, she made a nice lei out of ones and fives--folded to lie flat in a wondrous tribute to origami. (Martha Stewart would be proud.)

When I graduated from the University of Hawaii, she made another and stuck a ten-dollar bill in the one and five mix. THAT shoulda been incentive enough to go for the Masters…

Okay, okay, Eleanor, sometimes it's about the dreams AND the money.
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MAKE YOUR LIFE COUNT...
"Every generation has the obligation to free men's minds for a look at new worlds, to look out from a higher plateau than the last generation. Your vision is not limited by what your eye can see, but by what your mind can imagine... Make your life count and the world will be a better place because you tried." ~ Ellison Onizuka (1946-1986), Graduation address to Konawaena High School (Hawaii), 1980

Graduation bridges accomplishments with future dreams. As high as a cap can be tossed to the heavens is how high the heart can soar. Even higher, if you toss it with all your might. Graduation celebrates potential and possibilities, the light to discover greatness, and the right to make life count.
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OUR LIGHT...
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frighten us." ~ Nelson Mandela

Shine!
•••••

GIVING THANKS...
"Giving thanks is one course from which we never graduate." ~ Valerie Anders

Life's milestones are remarkable. We can't get to the buffet alone. We can't make a lei with just one flower (or one ten dollar bill). It's a group effort, a string of support, a lei of family, friends, teachers, hard work, talent, luck, money, tenacity, and dreams. Great leaps are powered by great love.

Graduate or guest, this ceremony of honor, the gateway to greatness, is yours to share.

Congratulations, graduates...Shine on!