I attended Barnard College's graduation yesterday. I was an invited guest. I cried at lot. Not from hearing President Obama speak, though he was as good and gracious as always and the mood felt charged from his presence there. I cried when the young women walked in, all those shining graduates. The tears just spilled over before I knew they would, I was so moved.
I remembered being in their place, walking the cobblestones in that solidarity of women, believing that anything was possible. I thought I was sad that I would never be able to share that feeling with my daughter, who was admitted to my alma mater, but has chosen to attend another school. Today, I realize it is simpler than that. I just miss that time when everything was before me. I had misplaced the feeling of the world as mine, I had forgotten it even existed, and I was mourning the long absence of it. And to see all those young women brimming again with that light, well, it was the most magnificent and extraordinary thing. And for a moment, I did feel again that anything was possible. Because after all, at any given moment, anything is.
I just love their faces!
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That is fantastic.
ReplyDeleteThis is about the most precious, wonderful, true thing I've read/seen in a long, long time.
ReplyDeleteAnother little piece of my heart is gone, baby.
Thanks. You can have it.
Omg Angella! That last pic just crushed me. So beautiful, all of it. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteSo wonderful -- and despite the bittersweet nature of this aging we all do, this seasoning, it's so good to know that there's a new line of young people with the same hopes and dreams and ambitions and love that we had (and might even continue to have).
ReplyDeleteWell said, Angella. Nothing should ever hold anyone back.
ReplyDeleteTerrific photos -- you really convey all their energy and excitement! (Especially that last girl!)
ReplyDeleteWow! That's awesome, sister Lister! I love these photographs--especially the last one.
ReplyDeleteAnd it doesn't surprise me that your sweet daughter is forging her own path. Would you expect anything less?
I'm not that far removed from having graduated, but I feel pieces of that wonder slipping away sometimes. When you are young you have no idea what life is like. I wish someone had told me how hard post-graduation would be. Everyone made 'your 20s' sound amazing. I think they've been damn hard. But it's another education altogether. I think we will always have the sense that anything is possible - as you say - it is.
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Beautiful, touching post.
ReplyDeleteAnd I envy you, seeing our president.
You write my heart so often.
ReplyDeleteI feel in some ways I was more emotional at my daughter's university graduation this weekend than she was . Of course.
Hugs.
Oh darling, I am so proud of you and uber impressed and now I just want to say, I know her!!! I totally feel how it could be sad and wonderful.
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Holding onto the vision, the belief, that anything is possible - at any given moment - has to be one of the pillars of human existence. That we have its truth reinforced in the hopeful, excited faces of our young women and men tells me we are not imagining; it is still true. xo
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, touching post. I think I know how you're feeling. xo
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