The Next Chapter
My younger brother, Cameron, has owned my heart since the moment he was born 21 years ago. Ok, well that’s a lie – home videos show that I used to push him out of the camera frame so that the spotlight would remain only on me but with passing time he has come to accept that I am famous, only in my own mind, and everything that comes with that. With all joking aside, he is the most special human being that has ever been brought into my life and more often then not I still view him as that little boy who loved nothing more in the world than legos and juice. Well, that little boy graduated last weekend and needless to say, emotions were sparked. Graduation. What a crazy time in one’s life, right?! It is a juggling game between doors closing and others opening. Unlike my brother, I cried at least once a day for about a solid month up until my graduation. Every time I stepped out of my sorority house it was “this is the last time we will do this” or “it will never be the same again.” * drammaaaa * As I watched my brother step through his graduation weekend with calmness and ease I wondered if he was feeling the weird mix of emotions that I once felt. The anxiety, the excitement, the fear, the confidence, the motivation, the memories, and the future all threaded together to form a knot in your stomach. During some brother – sister time, Cameron showed me a picture of his 5 year old self and looked at me and said, “I think to myself if that Cameron would be proud of who he is today and I say hell yes he would be.” Without much thought I let out a laugh and awed over the cute throwback picture but looking back I now recognize what a cool moment that was.
If we could all be a little more like Cameron and take a second to pat ourselves on the back before being so quick to move to the next step I think we may just find ourselves smiling a little bit more.
To all of the graduates out there - CONGRATULATIONS. Everything that you are currently feeling is normal, I promise you. It’s terrifying yet so exciting. A whole new life is waiting for you to grab a hold of. Take chances. Take a lot of them and never forget that life does not always go according to plan and that IS ok.
To all of those that have yet to graduate – soak in every last second of college life. Trust me, just do it.
To those that walked the graduation stage years ago – my challenge for you is to take a second this week to reflect on the person you were then to who you are now. Smile at your accomplishments and let them drive you to the next level.
To everyone reading this, stop what you are doing. Seriously. Stop. Pat yourself on the back and in the spirit of Cameron, tell yourself that you are damn proud of the person you are becoming.
To Cameron, I love you buddy and I have no doubt under the sun that you will thrive in your next chapter.
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.” ~ Dr. Seuss
