Fly High

It was surely just yesterday when she smiled for the camera with her new backpack, new clothes, and blond ringlets. It was her first day of kindergarten. She was my only child and honestly, I was not sad about the transition. She was ready...and so was I. But that was then.

Things have now come full circle. She left the doors of her high school for the last time today as a student. It is amazing to me how the distance of years can be condensed into the smallest of moments when matters of the heart are concerned. Surely it wasn't so long ago that she drew pictures of Maria dancing across hills that were "alive with The Sound of Music"...that she created puppets and staged biblical plays for her extended family (with a tip jar on the piano!)...that she sprinted so gracefully in her track uniform...that she applied and was accepted to Fontbonne University. Oh, snap! It's true. She's leaving the nest soon.

For McKenzie, the meaning of commencement is exhilarating. It is truly her new beginning, and marks the end of a high school career that she will gladly leave behind. For me, this new beginning is a reminder that I must prepare to say a sort of farewell...and I am sad. She is my oldest child and honestly, she is not sad about the transition. She is ready...but I am not. And this is how it is...now.

This morning I told my friend how I was feeling about the day...about how my emotions were running strong and nostalgia had kicked in high gear. He said, simply, "It's the first day of the rest of your life." And so it is. It is the first day of the rest of yours, too, McKenzie. Someday when perhaps you realize that your mom knew a thing or two, please remember these words. They are not my own, but I share them from the bottom of my heart. Your journey begins today. Travel well, Frotten. I love you with all my heart.

You are educated. Your certification is in your degree. You may think of it as the ticket to the good life. Let me ask you to think of an alternative. Think of it as your ticket to change the world. ~Tom Brokaw

Hitch your wagon to a star.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wherever you go, go with all your heart. ~Confucius

Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude.
~Ralph Marston

There are no shortcuts to any place worth going. ~Beverly Sills

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. ~Mark Twain, attributed

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. ~Dr. Seuss

And of this, I have no doubt...you are courageous enough to be you. You always have been. Don't ever change. Love, Mom.

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.
~e.e. cummings