A Graduation Ceremony

This weekend has been one of the best weekends I've had in a long time.  I'll share more about my weekend tomorrow, and I can say that with certainty, because I've already written the post!  Today, I have something much more moving to share.  

The majority of our day was spent with my husband's family celebrating our oldest nephews high school graduation.  We headed out late this morning for our front row seats at the high school. 

It was refreshing to see kids ambitious about their future and sharing their talents.  The seniors of the choir did an excellent rendition of Don't Stop Belivin' which happens to be one of my favorite songs.


Their class had 5 valedictorians and 1 salutatorian that spoke.  I remember the first to speakers being excellent, but right now I can't tell you a thing about the first speaker's speech.  I can't get the second speakers speech out of my head. 


His speech moved me to tears.

You see, this kid, he was adopted. 

He spoke about how his biological mother made a choice 19 years ago to give her son up for adoption.  It was a risk she had to take.  He spoke about how she took a risk not knowing what kind of life her baby might have, what kind of things he would experience in life.  She didn't know if it would live up to her expectations or his life, but she made the choice.   He reassured everyone that he grew up in a home with unconditional love of two parents he admired.  He reassured us that he had teachers who reached out to him to help foster his growth and education. 

And finally he encouraged all of his classmates to take risks in their lives just like his biological mother did because the best things in life are things that don't come by following the traditional path. 

This speech here, gave me confidence back in what the future of our world looks like.  There are days when I see things happening in our world today that frighten me.  And makes me anxious about what kind of world my children will grow up in, but today, that fear subsided a bit, because there are still kids out there who are doing the right thing, sharing their stories, and moving the world in a direction that I am proud of.