Saturday, May 06, 2006
All Is Well
My commencement speech went well today. I'm more than a little surprised too. You see, I was having a major case of writer's block. (You might have noticed by the lack of posts to my blog recently.) The problem was that I couldn't decide what I wanted to tell 700 graduates. I've been trying to figure that out for the last 3 months, with no success. Finally, at 9:00 last night, inspiration struck. I spent the next 2 hours writing and re-writing my speech. Then I woke up at 5:00 to fine-tune everything. By 6:30, I was good to go, which is a good thing because I had to leave at 7:00. Which just reminds me of one of my favorite quotes: "If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would get done." I couldn't agree more.
The actual delivery of the speech today was a bit hurried. I have to admit that I was quite nervous and probably should have slowed down a little. But I rehearsed my speech enough that I didn't really screw it up at all. That was my big fear. Granted, I practically just read what I'd written. But I was still afraid that I'd lose my place in the speech and stand up there like an idiot for a minute while I found where I'd left off.
Now that my speech is behind me, I feel a tremendous weight has been lifted from me. Even though I've been done with finals for 4 days now, it never really set in that I was done with school. And that's because this stupid speech hung over me like the Sword of Damocles. But now that the speech is over, I realize that graduate school is over. I never have to go back there. The long mission I started almost 2 years ago is over. I have my nights and weekends back. I have time with my family back. (Okay, so there are drawbacks.)
Tomorrow morning, The Wife and I are headed to San Francisco (and then Sacramento) to visit her brother. We're taking Luke with on his first flight. To say that we're nervous is putting it mildly. The problem is that Luke isn't one of those children that likes to just sit still. He's one of those kids that loves running around, screaming his head off, touching people, cackling wildly. In other words, he'll be tons of fun on the plane. Fortunately, we're packing some Benedryl and we're hoping that will knock him out for the majority of the flight. Otherwise, this vacation might not be so relaxing.
I'll be back on Thursday with commentary about our trip.
The actual delivery of the speech today was a bit hurried. I have to admit that I was quite nervous and probably should have slowed down a little. But I rehearsed my speech enough that I didn't really screw it up at all. That was my big fear. Granted, I practically just read what I'd written. But I was still afraid that I'd lose my place in the speech and stand up there like an idiot for a minute while I found where I'd left off.
Now that my speech is behind me, I feel a tremendous weight has been lifted from me. Even though I've been done with finals for 4 days now, it never really set in that I was done with school. And that's because this stupid speech hung over me like the Sword of Damocles. But now that the speech is over, I realize that graduate school is over. I never have to go back there. The long mission I started almost 2 years ago is over. I have my nights and weekends back. I have time with my family back. (Okay, so there are drawbacks.)
Tomorrow morning, The Wife and I are headed to San Francisco (and then Sacramento) to visit her brother. We're taking Luke with on his first flight. To say that we're nervous is putting it mildly. The problem is that Luke isn't one of those children that likes to just sit still. He's one of those kids that loves running around, screaming his head off, touching people, cackling wildly. In other words, he'll be tons of fun on the plane. Fortunately, we're packing some Benedryl and we're hoping that will knock him out for the majority of the flight. Otherwise, this vacation might not be so relaxing.
I'll be back on Thursday with commentary about our trip.
