You say goodbye and I say hello

Tonight I said my first goodbyes to the graduating seniors from the Class of 2009 and realized the time for Kleenex tissues has come. Tomorrow morning they are all leaving to London, France, Germany, Spain and other faraway corners of the Globe. And we don't know if life will meet us again.


Graduation is a time to celebrate education, successes and friendships. Yet this graduation for me is a difficult and sobering experience. It marks the moment when everyone takes her path in life and jumps into new adventures individually. It marks a goodbye to the past I was part of and a hello to a future I will be absent from. What can be more difficult to accept than this reality?

A friend told me tonight she didn't understand why I was crying. She said I should be happy I got to meet all those people. But that is exactly my point. I can't help holding back the tears because of memories full of happiness and togetherness. Indeed, I am happy I got to have such classmates but I also understand the extent to which I will miss them.

Now they are off to a new beginning away from the college life that we shared. And I can only repeat the words of Mary McAleese, the President of Ireland, told at the Commencement speech today to the Class of 2009: "A good start is half the work. Enjoy the start of the other half."