Class of 2005

I graduate today and will now "have the power to read" (and to quote Mo1, "and do all that apperdains to this tigiri"). What does the power to read mean? What was I doing since before I started nursery school? Someone should have told me that I didn't have the power then, 'cause really wg-k could not be torn away from her precious Peter and Jane, and that book about Mr. Kamau's bus (what was it called?), Kaka Sungura, The Hare and the Tortoise.... lol. I'm still a book addict and at least that's one addiction that's not harmful to anything except maybe my bank account! (thank God for well stocked libraries and most of all for Amazon.com!)

So anyway, I'm sitting here trying to remember how I felt at my first graduation because this one scares the crap out of me. I'm expected to know more, do more....most of all, I have to get a real job and be like a grown-up and everything. Drat!

I asked myself (yes, I admit that I talk with and to myself often, it's quite enlightening!) why I was so scared about this milestone and I realised why. One word; expectations. I thought initially that I was afraid that others would expect more from me, mum, dad, siblings, hubby, friends... but the only person weighing me down with mega-expectations is wg-k herself. There's nothing wrong with believing in yourself and in your own abilities, but it is a problem if those beliefs and expectations are so great that all they do is exert constant pressure, never allowing any room for mistakes, demanding the absence of any kind of imperfection.

Here's to belief in my own strengths and abilities
Here's to the acceptance of the fact that, gasp, I sometimes might fail
Here's to looking at failure as the flavour that sweetens my next success
Here's to the Class of 2005

wg-k, M.A. (Next is PhD - Permanent Head Damage!)