It is graduation season.

Many colleges have already held their commencement ceremonies, while high schools are just days away from sending out the Class of 2017.

It is a special time in the lives of these students. For many, it is a time of excitement as they complete high school and nervousness as they move on to something else.

Some already have their plans in place, while others are in an absolute frenzy of tying up loose ends or figuring out what to do next.

For these students’ parents, you have to know it is an emotional time. For those parents, it seemed like just a few days ago they were taking their children to their first day of kindergarten or celebrating when their child learned to tie their shoes.

For the students, time did not move as quickly. For them, it was lifetime ago that their senior year began. Anticipation, it seems, tends to stretch time a bit.

For me, this month marks 25 years since I graduated along with my Class of 1992 classmates at Robertsdale High School.

It doesn’t seem that long ago really.

While I cannot remember the words of the speeches, I do remember or valedictorian Lori Patrick (now Lori Gowan) giving her speech and our salutatorian Diane Coe (now Diane Murray) giving her speech.

I remember the rush of walking across the football field to get my diploma from Principal John Faulk and the rush to hug friends and family in order to rush off to our graduation parties.

For me, it seems like just yesterday, but the realities in my life, the events of my life and sometimes the aches in the morning, remind me my high school graduation was not yesterday.

So much has happened in those 25 years.

There’s a little less hair, a few more pounds.

There’s marriage, children and a mortgage.

There’s a career, responsibilities and obligations.

After our graduation, my class appears to have scattered to the winds.

Some still live in the south Alabama area, while others now live in Europe, throughout the Southeast and points north, east and west.

But, while we did not have social media during our high school years — and thank God for that — we do have it now, allowing us to stay connected.

Today, we are able to see each of our children grow up, play ball, perform in recitals and mark life milestones.

While I was a little late to the party with having children, I have classmates who are now grandparents. I have classmates who have children who they themselves have finished high school and college.

We have our first “organized” reunion in December. It’ll be nice to reconnect — in person — with long lost friends.

Twenty-five years is in many ways a lifetime. What I challenge the class of 2017 to remember is to make it all count, because it goes by in a flash.