This weekend was such a gift. Disclaimer, though: this entry will probably
be super lame, especially for people who don’t know what the letters THWND
stand for.
On Thursday morning, I had an interview with a patient in El
Paso. I attempted to take public
transportation to the hospital, but the bus never arrived and I ended up paying
for a taxi. I barely made it to the
appointment, but everything went well. From
there, I rushed to the airport to board my flight to Philadelphia. If the bus had been any later, I would have
missed my flight, but it all worked out, mostly due to the fact that the El
Paso airport is tiny.
My trip back to Hawk Hill was a whirlwind.
I got to hug and catch up with dozens of people who have impacted my
life, and I even successfully surprised a few great friends with my visit. It was pretty surreal to do things like go to
Manayunk, get Wawa, and call an SJU escort, but it also offered a lot of
closure.
I was reminded of the way people at St. Joe’s always seem to
go the extra mile to make peoples’ lives easier when I went to the
Baccalaureate Mass on Friday afternoon after realizing I had eaten practically
nothing of substance all day and feeling like I was going to faint. I walked over to the student center and a
woman from food services unlocked the school convenience store and handed me a
Gatorade, peanut butter crackers, and a cereal bar. She told me to sit down, eat, and relax for a
bit, and adamantly refused my money. It’s
situations like that which help me remember how St. Joe’s became my home.
Maybe it was frivolous to buy a ticket to
graduation. And it was probably not
super smart to get about 4 hours of sleep every night. But to me, it was worth it.
Last year, when the class of 2011 graduated, I sobbed on my
couch in Savannah, wishing I could be there to witness some of my dearest
friends become alumni. I just couldn’t
do that to myself again, especially knowing that the class of 2012 is the last
class at St. Joe’s that I have a lot of close friends in. Therefore, this visit will probably be the
last time I go to Philadelphia to visit SJU specifically.
Yesterday, at graduation, as I basked in the warm sun
surrounded by some of my closest friends who are also fellow Hawk alumni, I
reflected heavily on what the class of 2012 meant to me. My brain wandered back to Koinonia meetings,
hall programs, late night conversations, meals in the dining hall, and trips to
Appalachia and Latin America. My heart
burst with pride as I watched the people I referred to as my “babies” getting
ready to spread their wings and fly away from Hawk Hill. We went through a lot together, and while not
all of it necessarily felt good at the time, that particular class taught me a
lot about myself that I now look back on with extreme gratitude.
As hundreds of names of graduates were read, I thought more
about how much growth I have witnessed in so many people who have passed from
being SJU students to SJU alumni. Through
all of the depression, anxiety, illness, personal struggle, and interpersonal
drama has come new life. The journey
wasn’t always easy, but in every case I can think of, things worked out the way
they needed to, especially in part to the incredible support network that sits
on Hawk Hill.
My own four years of college were everything I could ask for
and so much more. In that rather short
period of time, I transitioned from childhood to adulthood. In engaging in the classroom, in my
community, and in new parts of the country and the world, I discovered my true
passions. I learned what it meant to be
a student leader as I was both mentored and pushed to my limits. I developed incredible friendships that would
witness deep sorrows and great joys. I was
given the space to pursue my faith and reflect on how it informs everything
else in my life. St. Joe’s gave me all
of the tools I would need to go forth and set the world ablaze. It’s the reason I ended up in Savannah, and
then in Atlanta, and why I’m currently in El Paso. Basically, it showed me how much personal
strength and talent I possess, and, more importantly, it taught me how to seek
what I need outside of myself.
This afternoon, as I rode the train back from Overbrook to
the airport, I realized it would likely be the last time I made that specific
trek on SEPTA. (Fittingly enough, the
train was running late, nearly giving me a heart attack that I would miss my
flight.) Amidst all the emotion, I
thought back to the first time I made the airport-Overbrook trip: I was with my
father, visiting St. Joe’s in February of 2006.
That day, I knew that I was being called to Hawk Hill for some reason
that I couldn’t quite put into words.
Today, I basked in joy and gratitude, knowing that my path so far, while
admittedly winding, has been exactly what I’ve needed.
I am so glad that I had this weekend to say a final goodbye
to college. The next time I come to
Philadelphia, in 32 days, will be for the wedding of two of my dear friends who
graduated two years ahead of me from St. Joe’s. After that, who knows what will happen. For now, to use the words of a very wise new
graduate, I am confident that I have
enough; and I feel much more ready to be fully present on the US-Mexico
border this summer.
Thank you to everyone who let me be a part of such a great
celebration this weekend. J
No comments:
Post a Comment