Good morning, everyone. My grandmother’s condition has stabilized, enough so that I felt comfortable returning home this past weekend and back to work today. This week, my school will do graduation, as will many of the other high schools across Fairfax County. With that in mind, here’s a graduation-themed playlist for your entertainment.

1. Simon & Garfunkel, “Mrs. Robinson”: From the movie soundtrack for The Graduate. Seemed appropriate.
2. Third Eye Blind, “Graduate”: Who doesn’t want to get out from underneath all the bastards who’ve kept you down for years and years?
3. Heroes Garden, “Graduation Day”: A friend’s sister plays cello with this band. They’re pretty good, in a Ra Ra Riot sort of way.
4. The Verve Pipe, “The Freshmen”: Oh, Verve Pipe, Freshmen don’t graduate! C’mon, guys.
5. Baz Luhrmann, “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)”: This was tremendously popular around the time I graduated from high school back in the late ’90s. And the advice the “song” offers (I hesitate to really call it a song; more like a spoken-word essay set to music) remains relevant even today: wear some damn sunscreen, folks.
6. Billy Joel, “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)”: A big part of graduating is the chance to move on to bigger, (hopefully) better things out there in the world.
7. John Fullbright, “Moving”: I mean, I already covered this in the previous song. Moving on is a big part of graduation.
8. Queen, “Leaving Home Ain’t Easy”: Queen gets that it’s not always an easy transition, though. Home is hard to give up.
9. Pearl Jam, “Leavin’ Here”: Pearl Jam, on the other hand, are all about getting the hell out while the getting is good.
10. Madonna, “This Used To Be My Playground”: This was the song played at my 8th grade graduation, which we thought at the time was super deep and really meaningful and now I realize is so corny it should’ve come on the cob.