Twenty-two years ago today, I strolled down the lawn at UVA with a few of my friends to collect our diplomas and head out into the world. It was a special day...capping off four special years.
Twenty-two days ago tomorrow, I played golf with my very best friends in the world, Tom, Rob, and John. Earlier in the year while researching my senior history thesis, I came to realize how aware the young men at UVA in the late 1850's were that something big was getting ready to break. I'd always thought that people experience great historic events in sort of a blase way, until after they end. What I found reading letters from UVA students as the Civil War loomed was just how aware they were of the times in which they were living. I thought about that as I golfed with these three special guys---and I realized that the four of us on a very small scale, knew all through those four years that we were in the middle of something special.
26 years for me CW (22 for baby brother Kurt). I had business in the Hook on a sunny Spring day a few weeks ago. When I was done I grabbed a "Five Easy Pieces" and a coupla longnecks from Little John's and ate lunch on the steps of the Rotunda.....brother, the beauty of the Lawn is timeless, and so also the values it represents...Honor, Scholarship, Relentless Exploration, Civility.
ReplyDeleteAmen.
ReplyDeleteCW,
ReplyDeleteHow's this for perspective? You will now forever more have more years lived since graduation than before....
....Live well friend.
jts