How do you celebrate a daughter’s graduation from college when you’re in the middle of a corona crisis—when the world is shut down, and everyone is sheltering in place? How do you mark a milestone without the pomp and circumstance of a formal graduation ceremony?

This is what we did.

• On graduation day, a Saturday, my daughter and her three housemates—all of whom had quarantined with each other—met at a park wearing their caps and gowns, with their immediate family. Separated from each other by a distance of six feet, together we watched the virtual commencement ceremony. In the time-honored tradition of celebrating a student’s achievement, we popped open the champagne and cut a cake to honor our graduate. At the end of the ceremony, all four graduates placed their tassels to the side, whooped, and tossed their caps in the air.

• We put together an iMovie of videos from twenty-two friends and family sending greetings and sharing a special story of our graduate. We played the U-Tube video on a large projector screen and as the credits rolled, I could see my daughter was wiping back tears with the back of her hand. Later, she said it had been the most memorable and meaningful part of her day.

• The next day—on Sunday—the T-shirts we’d ordered with her graduation picture and the words “Ghena’s Graduation Groupies” emblazoned on the front of them arrived. One day too late. We were supposed to wear them for the commencement ceremony but due to Covid-19 delays, our package had been held up. Oh, well! We donned them with pomp and exuberance and wore them to a family barbeque where we again marked my daughter’s graduation from college and my nephew’s graduation from high school with balloons and cupcakes.

• The final cherry on the cake was a car parade organized on Sunday by our Indian community for all graduates in the neighborhood. Twenty-five cars drove by, honking horns, calling out “Congratulations,” and delivering chocolates and flowers to our graduates. Our daughter stood outside and enjoyed the ‘parade’ from a safe distance. It was a testament to how our close-knit community reacts in a crisis . . . providing a brand new ritual closure to our students who have felt the significant loss of a formal graduation ceremony. A new hashtag is born: #communitycan’tbecanceled.

• The signs and decorations adorning our front yard this last weekend will stay for the rest of the month. It may not fully replace the joy and elation of a live commencement, but it makes our daughter feel special and supported at a time that normally would have been filled with parties, jaunts to the beach, and nights out on the town.

Given the horrific news stories of the last couple of months, the class of 2020 has had to realize that the world is a cold, cruel place and you have to be tough to survive. That life is uncertain, and nothing is promised. It’s a lesson learned early but learned well in this time of pause.

So, go, knock ‘em dead. The best is yet to come!