G12 Farewell Celebration
May 23, 2025
I have more freckles on my right cheek than on my left.
A remnant of years sitting on the right side of the car with my face pressed against the window. When I was a child, I was sensitive to the cold, but the sun always had mercy, pushing through the window, warming my face like a tight embrace.
It's one of those things you do as a child, that kind of fades away unbeknownst to you.
But recently, on the ride back home, I was tired. I leaned my head against the window and there the sun was, dancing off the leaves.
The cold indoors, the cheery sun, the freckles on my right cheek— it fled back into my soul like tourists to the beach in June. And suddenly, I realize I’m not 7 years old pressing my cheek against the car window anymore, and what seemed like a million years away will be over in less than a few hours.
And don’t get me wrong, I feel great about this. In no time, we’d have paved the way for biomedical research, perhaps gone skydiving, caught a large rainbow trout in Yosemite Lake, revolutionized the cheese industry.
We’d have graduated college, had our first serious relationship, found the love of our lives, and gotten married. We could be someone’s mom or dad!
But remember, when the sun whips your face and you’re seeking shade, when frost hangs in the air and your numb fingers search for a spark, when the cruelty of the world peels through your skin and its grief pulsates in your bones, know where to come back to. Today.
Come back to midnight when we make our promises in bed not to forget. Come back to 7:30 when your girlfriends and best buddies help you touch up your hair. Come back to the shared embrace as we sing alongside our birds of a feather. Come back to the loose gowns and tight hugs.
Come back to the laughter, the awkward photos, messing up your makeup with tears, the recounting of those stories our grandkids will soon know all too well. “Granny, this is the hundredth time you’ve mentioned senior pranks. Move on you fat old lady!” Come back to the caps being tossed into the sky.
Come back to when the caps fall and you squeal, trying not to get hit in the face. Come back and taste the bitterness of a goodbye, and the sweet of something beautiful to say goodbye to. Come back to the smiles cracked wide open with pride, relief, and something unspoken. Because what evaporates today into clouds, comes around tomorrow as rain.
