An ending, a continuation

One of these days, it will hit me that I've finished LISPA. Now, it still feels like just another break between terms - the only discernible difference is that I get inordinately thrilled whenever I see one of my former classmates. I light up like an effin' Christmas tree, no joke.


Have I mentioned what an incredible two years it's been? Have you gathered from the last two months of glowing entries how happy I am here, and what a gift it's been to work with this community, and to begin to find my voice, and to be nurtured by this school? Is it clear that I feel more confident and secure in myself than I can ever remember being, and that I am looking to the future with great pleasure while still ekeing out every bit of contentment from the present?

Yes, I'm in a good place.

Our graduation ceremony was a beautiful thing - full of laughter and shouting and tears and loud music - the crowning glory of which was the send-off that the first years gave us. One by one, blindfolded and led by the hand, they took us through the ocean, up the mountain to the peak, down again in the midst of an earthquake, across the river, through the plains, and to the desert. And then, the sunset, soaked in song and drunk in with a wide open gaze.

And now, life has some semblance of simple normalcy. Working 9-5, drinks and dinners in the evenings. People have begun to disperse, and the periodic parties have lower attendance now than last week. But the air is still thick with possibilities and plans, the weather is warm, and the sweet melancholy of an ending is tempered by the fresh flavour of commencement.