on this day, may 29th, exactly 20 years ago, i received a diploma from jessamine county high school at the memorial coliseum on the campus of the university of kentucky.
twenty. years. ago.
i guess that is supposed to make me feel old, and i guess in one sense it does, but the more powerful sensation is one of utter disbelief that it has been twenty years since that day. of course, the camera holds no such surprise. i look twenty years younger in these pictures. and about 40 years skinnier. but my existential reality allows for some wiggle room when it comes to self-image. so, in my mind, even though my appearance has changed - i've grown some grayer hairs and some deeper lines in those years - my self is still my self. i have learned some things and lost some things along the way, but it feels more like five to ten years ago than twenty. i have lived in 4 different states during that time. i have served 5 different churches and graduated from college and grad school. i got married. had three children. visited seven different countries. i have served on the board of directors for several organizations and was ordained in the united methodist church.
josh, joe, and myself: the three musketeers, as we called ourselves
but mostly, i've just been living in the in-between moments, mundane and marginal as they may seem. yet they have made up the hours which have made up the days which have made up the 240 months, which is the 20 years since i walked across that platform shook hands, and moved my tassels to the other side. there's been some pomp and circumstance, to be sure. but mostly it has been breathing and blinking, heartbeats and happenstance. and it has been life. twenty rich and beautiful years of it.
from l to r: me, josh, trevor, joe, rebecca, mia and mary ann
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