Go Love Your People, People!
My amazing, supportive, wonderful, loving mama and daddie. <3
I have no doubt we wouldn’t have made it without each other!
The infamous senior rock.
We did it, ya’ll!
Exactly 20 years ago I graduated from college. My crazy best friends and I spent the wee hours of that morning spray painting the gigantic senior rock in rainbow colors — a last-minute rebellious nod to our soon-to-be-confirmed art degrees.
I got up early to straighten my hair and spent all day fussing with that damn hat to look right — spoiler: it never did — thanks a lot, NC humidity! Oh, I also woke up with pink eye that day so I had to wear glasses instead of contacts and endured the added stress of figuring out how I was going to read my speech through the goop.
Oh yeah, I gave a speech that day. I was one of five graduates from the Chowan College class of 2005 chosen to deliver a commencement speech. I was assigned the topic of leadership, drawn from my collegiate experience as a Presidential Leadership Scholar. I spoke about building bridges, how leaders are not only in charge, but they also pave the way for those who come after — how building the bridge takes work, work that leaders don’t do just for themselves, but for their successors, to make their future journey easier. I ended up printing my speech in a ridiculously large font and got through the whole thing without a stumble.
Many things stick out from that day but I’ll never forget the words a random parent said to me once it was all said and done. My classmate’s mom sought me out for a hug and to say: I am so proud that my child had the opportunity to know you here, thank you for your words and leadership.
As I reflect on the random things I remember from graduation and on the 20 years since that muggy, warm, goopy-eyed, exciting day, I find myself thinking most about many different special folks — people who weren’t there but should have been, people that were there who are no longer with us here on earth, people who were there with whom I no longer associate, and people who I am beyond fortunate to know now that I would have given anything to have in my life then.
First, I’m thinking about Nicole, our beautiful and talented classmate tragically taken from us in an automobile accident a few semesters prior; she should have walked across that stage with us. I see her smile with every butterfly that crosses my path. Then I’m thinking about Mr. Eubank, our beloved mentor and friend who had recently endured below-the-knee amputation due to complications from diabetes; he passed a year or so later but he should have been in the crowd to cheer for his all-time favorite students. I can’t mention him without reminding you that, “Every Day is a Good Day for ART!” In addition to the folks who should have been there, I’m also remembering the people who were there to whom I’ve said the hardest goodbyes in the last 20 years: Grandma Lorraine, Papa Merdith, and my sweet Daddie – three of the most influential people in my life. I miss them every single day. And I’m thinking about my younger siblings who I didn’t yet know that I would have felt honored to have seen in the crowd, proud of their super-cool college-graduate big sister up on that stage.
Over the years, my personal network of connections has grown wide and spans the globe, and if anything in the past 20 years has stuck with me, it’s the reminder that the people in our lives come and go, they stay for a season, they serve a purpose, they are to be cherished, thanked, celebrated, honored, remembered, and loved.
Go love your people, people – all the time in all the ways you know how – always.
Here’s to 20 years of post-graduate life, the ups and downs, the laughs and cries, the hellos and goodbyes, and all the rest that’s yet to come.
Congrats ’05 – we were a top-notch group!
