Graduation Day

This album cover image of my nephew, brother, dad, and myself was taken on one of my nephew's last visits to West Virginia. He was born in New Jersey, but did most of his growing up in California. He's only been on the Terra Firma of Almost Heaven Soil a handful of times during his eighteen years, and he's about to graduate. (Interestingly, we didn't plan the light brown shirts and dark brown shorts; it just happened, and I don't think anyone noticed it until after we had left home. btw this is one of my dad's favorite places to visit back home, it's called Fort Boreman Hill Park.

But that's not why I'm writing this blog. I'm writing this post because tonight, my nephew, Nicholas Charles Williams will graduate from high school. It's a pretty monumental achievement. He's one of the top students in his school (it's a school that focuses in science and technology and a national blue ribbon school called Troy High School. Here's it's website if you'd like to read more about it.

My nephew is crazy smart and athletic (much like his parents), and has played sports ranging from soccer, to fencing, to water polo. He is also an Eagle Scout, and likes to play guitar and would love to be in a band one day (I think just about every person who gets a guitar has similar dreams).

He was one of a small group of southern Californians who were accepted for enrollment at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana where he will attend this fall. Now, being a Mountaineer true blue thru and thru, this is a hard pill to swallow, but I'm proud of my nephew for his pursuit of academic excellence, his pursuit of physical fitness, and his pursuit of skills and character that become refined in groups like the Boy Scouts of America. He will be starting a little earlier than most students at Notre Dame because he was accepted into a special program for minority students to orient him to life at the university. The program starts early next week. Yikes!

None of our side of the family could make it out for his graduation, but everyone on this side of the country is really proud of him. Graduating from high school is a pretty big deal, and from the looks of what he has done with his life thus far, I'm sure he will continue to do great things.

They refer to graduation ceremonies as "commencements" because they seem to mark not so much an end, but rather a new beginning. Whether you have finished high school or been as successful in endeavors as my nephew, each day is really a new beginning. Each day is another chance to work on becoming the best version of yourself that you can be. Take advantage of it.

And Nick, if you are reading this. We're proud of you, and we all hope you will take advantage of each day to work on being the best version of yourself you can be too! You are pretty quality!