Life Shifts

A few weeks ago I graduated with my MFA Degree in Creative Writing from Columbia College Chicago. The entire two years of getting this degree has been a journey, but yet for some reason I didn’t quite expect to feel as emotional as I did on my graduation day. It felt monumental in so many ways, but not even for me, personally. It felt monumental because it was a reminder of how much of who I am and what I do is deeply connected to the people in my life.

The last graduation I attended was for my bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis. Totally against the social conventions of commencement, my dad had gotten up from his seat and ran to the bottom of the stage so that he could shake my hand after I got my diploma. His eccentricities both embarrassed me, at times, and made me laugh with joy. I didn’t participate in the commencement ceremony for my first graduate degree when my dad was still alive and so this graduation was the first major life event for me in which he wasn’t alive. Everything about me being a writer is directly influenced by him.

Participating in my graduation felt so much for my dad who wasn’t there on that day and for my son who was and still is a part of my every day. My dad showed me what it was to love words. He immigrated here from Ireland in the 1960s and built every home we ever lived in. He memorized and recited William Butler Years just because and whose favorite book was Canterbury Tales. He taught me to appreciate the concision of a sentence, the beauty of a poem. He taught me to pay attention and to look. For the man who removed the training wheels off my first bike and gave me a final push hoping that I’d have both the courage and the strength to pedal on my own, I absolutely did. Graduating was for my son, too. He teaches me every day to be present in a moment, to also pay attention, and to look. He reminds me of how primal human instincts are, but he truly reminds me of unconditional love.