June 13, 2010
On Thursday night I could hear a young, vibrant voice echoing across the valley about chasing your dreams and fulfilling your destiny. I thought about how the voices I usually hear are older, raspy and demanding and wondered where this new voice was coming from.
Then I remembered. Graduation. I could hear the graduation speaker and boy was she excited.
So, it is that time of year, and I have bought several cards to fill with money, because that is the tradition right? “Here’s a little gate money. Now good luck and don’t look back.”
I did not buy the card that said, “Reach for the moon, even if you miss, you will land among the stars.” Someone, maybe me, should tell Hallmark and American Greetings that if you miss the moon, the stars are actually much further away and you just land where there is no oxygen, lots of flying debris and you will probably die.
I was thinking of creating my own graduation cards based on this moon and stars premise:
Jump off a tall building, even if you don’t defy gravity your name will be in the paper.
Hold you breath if you don’t get your way, even if still you don’t get your way, you will turn a nice shade of blue, pass out, wake up and you can try again.
Don’t expect anything from the future, even if you never accomplish anything, you will be fully in the now.
I’m happy to freelance for either company since I am not busy fulfilling my graduation dream of being a physical therapist. And I wondered, since I’m not fulfilling my dream, does that mean I am a failure?
Luckily my cherub doesn’t graduate until next year (God willing!), so I have an entire year to compose a vibrant, encouraging message for his graduation. I think it will go something like this:
Life is like snow skiing. You think you have made it to the top of the mountain and now you can get off the lift, or graduate, and things will be smooth sailing toward retirement and afternoons of naps. But, your lift partner will probably be clumsy and push you down as you get off the lift, they will have to stop the lift and people you don’t know, and even those you do, will be irritated with you for messing up everyone else’s mojo. You have your first decision to make, spend your time explaining how it was your partner’s fault and be mad at your partner for being clumsy, or brush yourself off, smile and move on. I suggest moving on.
Then you start skiing down the hill. Things are going smoothly. This is easier than you thought so you decide to go try the moguls. They are harder than you thought. You will probably fall down a lot. You will probably wish you hadn’t taken the moguls. And, to top it all off, your partner is below you yelling at you to hurry up and he told you the moguls were too difficult. So you have to decide, be mad at your dumb decision and take it out on your partner, or smile and keep at it. I suggest, smile and keep at it.
Finally you get past the moguls and take an intermediate run when a snowboarder hits you from behind, causing you to lose one of your skis, which you have to climb back up the mountain, dodging other less-than-talented-skiiers-and-snowboarders, to retrieve and when you look around for the guy who hit you, thinking he must be hanging around to see if you’re okay and if you need help and he’s nowhere to be seen, you can either sit down and cry, or put on your ski and coast the rest of the way. I suggest coasting.
Finally, you will get to the bottom of the mountain. Your partner will be there because he wants to ride up the lift with you again and while in line you see the guy who hit you. You can decide to ride the lift with a partner who will probably clumsily push you down again. You can decide to yell at the snowboarder who ran into you and didn’t wait to see if you needed help. You can decide to stay down the mountain and get some hot chocolate.
Whatever you decide, keep in mind that it is not the skiing that matters. It is not the moguls that matter. It is not the journey that matters. It is not the accomplishments that matter. What matters is how you conducted yourself with the people around you.
And, don’t jump off any buildings because no matter how great you feel, you cannot defy gravity.
This week I will stay in the now of my life, rather than lament the dreams I have not fulfilled, not yet.
