Literally, what the title of this post says, I was trying to re-take my high school graduation photos because other than the certificate saying I graduated High School, I had no picture proof of it. At the time it happened, I thought nothing of not having pictures of me in a graduation gown and a cap. But a verse in an audiobook I was reading brought a memory to my mind and I decided that if it’s possible, I’ll re-take them myself!
As some of you may (or may not) know, I couldn’t make it to my High School graduation. My high school is a little weird where the graduation or commencement ceremony will occur in October after you actually finish the school year. So say the school year ends in June, we would officially graduate in June but the ceremony will be in October that same year, so you’d have to make arrangements at College/University/Work to come back for that/get your certificate.
I was hoping to make it last minute to the ceremony because I wouldn’t be too late (my last name starts with ‘T’), however I didn’t put too much hope into it. My school is over 2-3 hours away from the High School (I’d be travelling from around Newmarket to downtown Toronto) via public transit, and I had labs/etc. that day.
Not to mention, I felt awkward going to the ceremony without my parents (they had work). So in the end, I just got home as the ceremony was winding down and never actually attended. I did pick up the certificate eventually though.
As I said before, I never gave much thought to missing the event. But when listening to an audiobook, something that was said jolted my memory of my mom bemoaning when the graduation ceremony was. I realized that it was so important to her to see me graduate and have pictures of it because I was the first in this branch of the family to make it to High School.
I knew finding and getting the graduation cap was fairly easy, but I wanted to do the whole deal since my mom’s birthday was coming up. I felt weird gifting graduation pictures as a birthday gift but I thought it’ll work out.
A quick google search brought me to a company from Windsor, Ontario called Canadian Caps and Gowns that sells everything needed for graduates. They offer a package that includes the gown, cap and tassel, everything needed for about $36. However, I don’t know if that offer/package is still available when this post goes up.
I got the set that includes the gown, cap and tassel with the year tag. I assumed that the year tag was of the current year, but apparently, you could email them about the order asking for a specific year tag. So I ended up getting one for 2019 and one for 2020. I’ll find a use for that one eventually.
I also got a standard golden-coloured stole, the ones for my school was a gold/marron/gold v-stole combination but I figured the standard golden stole was less hassle.
I got my order within a week after ordering it and hid them away. Probably 3 weeks before my mom’s birthday, I got everything out and wore it to take the pictures. Now, I don’t have a lot of self-esteem of my body especially because I don’t have the typical small, short or slim figure that other girls I knew had.
I was put down a lot by “well-meaning” elders for being too fat or “just a tad chubby” for most of my childhood, and they left a lasting impression. I’ve been working on that over the years but taking those pictures was tough. Going from the occasional selfie a year, to close to 50 was extreme for me. In the end, I did like how they looked and set about finding a printer.
I ended up using Pikto’s printing services because they seemed to be local to Toronto, and within a week I got those pictures. Price was a little $$$ but I did get two large and two small-sized prints in addition to paying shipping so it was alright though.
Overall, it was kind of fun. My dad liked the pictures, and when my mom got them for her birthday we both had a slightly teary-eyed moment. There were a lot of things that happened throughout 2020 that made me look at a lot of things differently, for one, I’m going to be taking a lot more pictures and setting up a private album on Facebook for my mom and me.
I got it from this company here: https://www.canadiangowns.com/
Life is just a little too short to not have pictures and memories of loved ones.
