Graduates walk across the stage to grab their diploma, move their tassel on their cap and enter a new chapter in life. It’s a challenging time for mothers, it can be for dads too, but mommas seem to have a hard time as they hug their seniors through joyful tears.

It is understandable. Moms carry their child around for about nine months before giving birth and are there to nurture you the next 18 years. Even after you grow into an adult, they will care for you with advice and care packages of your favorite snacks and drinks.

As a man, I don’t fully understand what a mom experiences watching her children grow up but my guess is she sees two people when a senior walks across the stage. One person is the child who would have walked into kindergarten for the first time 13 years prior and the other is the maturing adult ready to leave the nest for college or the workforce.

To the seniors getting ready to start a new chapter, don’t forget your mommas. Call often when you are away at college. You might be too busy balancing work, academics and new social relationships your freshman year to really notice time flying by but your mom misses you. Call your mom if you can’t make it to Thanksgiving because you are spending the day with your partner’s family, or are at Davis Wade Stadium to watch the Egg Bowl.

It has been nearly a year since I danced with my mom at my wedding. Chris Janson singing “Bye Mom” in the background as we spun through another progression in life’s story. Her son starting a new job with a young bride in a town seven hours away.

I know she will always see me as the little boy wearing an Arkansas Razorback button up shirt for three straight yearbook picture days, or the boy who left his kindergarten class 10 minutes early on the first day of school to go to her classroom. She still waits until I arrive home from a journey of 500 miles on the road traversing the delta and into the Ozarks.

I cherish every moment I am blessed to spend with her and my grandmothers. You might not realize it yet but time is not a vacuum where only one person grows old. Each year you make it around the sun adds another layer of perspective to your worldview.

Perspective reveals a few truths about our moms and specifically my mom. Her teaching prepared me to be a better young man, husband and employee, her high standards means I have to give more than 100 percent in anything and her love is something special.

Mommas love their children more than they love themselves. They love you unconditionally and eternally. I remember one children’s book called “Love you Forever” written by Robert Munsch that she would read to me as a boy. I know she will love me forever and I will love her forever.

I also know from the childrens book “The Kissing Hand,” that I will always carry her love with me even when I’m seven hours away, and I hope she feels the same way. I hope all mothers and children can find the comfort of love in new seasons of life.

Hunter Cloud can be reached at hunter.cloud@dailyleader.com.