The Circle Game

As my son prepares for his high school graduation in 5 days, my brain has unearthed an old song by Joni Mitchell. I remember hearing it as a child and loving it because it mentioned painted ponies. Of course as I got older and heard the song, I realized it was a bittersweet tribute to growing up and memories. How appropriate that song is to me this week. This is my youngest child preparing to go off into the world and somehow he seems so much younger than my daughter seemed at this same point in her life. Have I really prepared him for this?

And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game