My daughter's graduation ceremony. Will I actually cry?

#20251217-605

Wednesday, December 17, 2025
"Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom,"
Noko (my daughter, 6th grade) says while putting a snack into her mouth.

"Finally, the song we're singing at graduation has been decided."

She trots over to her school bag rack, pulls a printout of the lyrics from her bag, and places it on the table.
"So-and-so's mom cried when she heard this song. Can you cry too, Mom?"
I look over the printout. It's a song I don't know.
I've heard that schools haven't sung "Aogeba Toutoshi" or "Hotaru no Hikari" at graduation ceremonies for a long time now.
——Classroom, schoolyard, desks, school building.
——Friends, everyone, thank you.
——Parting, hope, setting off, the day of graduation.
The lyrics continue, looking back on school life that began in April when the cherry blossoms bloomed, where they met, studied together, played, and even fought. And today, they graduate from here.

Noko tells the Amazon voice assistant, Alexa, to play the song.
I trace the lyrics while listening to the music.
"Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, will you cry? Hey, can you cry?"
"Maybe So-and-so's mom is just young."
Or perhaps she spent her own school days just like the ones described in these lyrics.
Even if it's not how I truly feel, maybe I should just say, "I can cry" or "It's so moving," but I suspect that as soon as I said it, Noko would retort, "You don't really mean that."

Entering school, graduating. Then transferring schools.
I've repeated this many times before.
It's true that when I was younger, the feeling of "I'll never see you again" was much stronger. That was an era before we had the means to stay in touch via the internet like we do now. There were only landline phones, and children couldn't just use them freely. The only way to connect on our own was by letter, and even then, we had to get stamps from our parents.
As I've gotten older, my thoughts on parting have changed.

Whether schools change or where you live changes, there are trains, buses, airplanes, and ships.
If you have the desire to see someone and the money to travel, and the other person also wants to see you, you can meet.

The elementary school Noko attends has a high rate of students advancing to the local public junior high school. I don't know about the group taking entrance exams, but as long as they don't move away, there's a chance they'll run into each other on the street.
Even if you cry and say goodbye at the graduation ceremony, you'll meet again at the entrance ceremony the following month.
You can even visit the school building as a graduate.
As for teachers, if they are in the public system, it might be a bit harder to see them again if they are transferred.
If the days spent in elementary school were so dense that you feel a longing and find it hard to leave, then perhaps tears might overflow.

Am I just being contrary?
It's a milestone in Noko's 12 years of life.
Shouldn't I just savor the fact that she safely spent her six years of elementary school life without overthinking it?
The graduation ceremony in three months.
Will my eyes actually well up with tears at the sight of Noko and the other sixth graders making this song echo through the gymnasium?