A tough reminder

I was walking through a crowd of recent graduates and their proud parents, grandparents, and assorted extended family members today and I really couldn't help but think about what my graduation day would be like. Most graduates would agree that the ceremony, the cap and gown, and all the pomp and circumstance is mostly for the doting parents.
Would I want to walk? I'm not sure. I know who'd I'd invite, I know who I'd want pictures with, but I can't help but feel like it's not a complete picture without my father.
This is grief... little annoying reminders that I'm different, that I am a parentless college student. The phrase "my mom" or "my dad" seems foreign when it isn't followed by "died". It's just been so long since they've been alive. And yet there are days when I still cry like they died yesterday. And sometimes I can't believe that this is my life, that I'm the one whose parents are dead already.

The bright side? I have 2 more years to decide about my graduation celebration, so I have pleeeeenty of time.