Congratulations Kay & Class of 2015!

Before heading back to the urban grind after walking 500 miles, I attended my littlest little sister's high school graduation in Ohio. As salutatorian, Kay had several roles to play in her graduation ceremony, not the least of which was giving a speech in front of a few thousand people whom she had never met. I cannot imagine the pressure she felt. She admitted she was nervous though you would not have known it listening to her. Her speech was eloquent and highlighted four years of Rogers High School memories, challenges, magical moments, and achievements. She spoke honestly about the past and shared about the recent loss of her mother. I shed a tear as I listened to her. It wasn't her words that moved me so much as her presence, her voice, her spirit. It was the promising way she saw the world, the vulnerability she presented, and the hope she had for her classmates, that they would go forth in their lives and achieve great things. Their futures awaited them.

Kay’s speech was followed by others and then the shoe and swagger parade began. Across the stage, one by one, the students received their well deserved, hard earned diplomas. As it has been since the beginning of time, the stage turned into a Parisian catwalk with wicked shoes in every color, style, and heel size imaginable fashioning beneath graduate gowns. The women in white walked in style, and the boys in red demonstrated their prowess with macho hand gestures and swaggers of coolness that even Jay-Z wishes he could pull off. The crowd went wild, screaming and hollering for their loved ones. For some of Kay's classmates, high school graduation will be the highlight of their lives. Some will go to college, others will serve in the military. Some will go straight to work, others will start families.

As I watched these young men and women bask in this moment of glory I thought to myself, Enjoy this time, graduates. The next five to six years of your life are meant to be lived with the pedal to the metal. Test your limits, express yourself, find out who you are. Be good to yourself, your family and friends. And most importantly follow your bliss…this is YOUR future and it starts NOW.