The graduation cap stays up in the air for about a second. The people standing next to you are the part to remember.

Milestones are short and largely ceremonial, and months of build-up point at a moment lasting about as long as a sneeze. What surrounds it is the real content: who you sat near for four years, the person who saved you a seat, the group standing in the parking lot afterward. The ceremony is a container rather than the thing itself.

Before the next big finish, get a photo with the people instead of the trophy. Learn the full names of the ones you only ever knew by nickname. Those details go missing inside a year.