I’ve watched Admiral McRaven’s UT speech a dozen times, I’ve made the girls watch it and I have recommended it to others.  I am a huge fan of commencement speeches.  Some reflect thoughts on policy, others on the future, and some are just flat out inspirational.  I use them as tools to remind me why I do what I do, to stay the course and push myself harder.

I now have a new inspirational video.  But only in so far as it is a reminder of what I should have been doing for the last 25 years.  Special thanks to Jim C for posting a link to our graduation video.  HHS class of 1990, what a trip.

http://haverhillcommunitytv.org/video/haverhill-high-school-class-of-1990-graduation

Observations

• It’s hard to remember a time when the obnoxiousness of our administrators calling out students as “learning disabled” and feigning praise on the top students, was acceptable
• nevraC windbreaker scholarship – I totally forgot about this one!
• Hair:  Girls=big, guys=mullets… even under the cap
• MassHole Accents – OMG do you all still talk that way?  Sure hope not
• Delivery of speeches – I remember being coached this way.   Jerky.  No flow.  Awful.
• Naivety in the speeches, too funny.  We were so young
• Danika D…so sad.  Steve B…surreal to see him on film

Our 25th reunion just happened over the T-Day break.  I went to Haley’s NHH&TA banquet and so I missed the festivities. 

 Thoughts on 25 years:

• So many goals not achieved
• Career = Spectacular failure
• Other massive failures
• I still can’t believe how fresh high school is in my mind
• So little of what I thought and predicted for myself, ever came to be.  But instead I did numerous other things that I never thought would come to define who I am.  Extremely special thanks to family and friends for pushing me into areas that were instinctively uncomfortable
• 43 used to seem so old to me, but I still feel pretty young and I’m in better shape now than 1990
• As I type this, I have a 16 year old soccer player, a 13 year old equestrian, I am the only one who really craves skiing anymore and Tailgating has become a way of life (to the dismay of many)
• Writing is my biggest talent and I read more than most of my peers… MoynaBitch and Fitzy would shit themselves
• They remade Point Break
• The first version of my current product idea came to me in an OM class in 1992.  See “procrastination”
• I remember thinking that the Internet was stupid and Amazon was dumb for selling books
• I draw pictures for a living, and they are of computer systems instead of houses
• New cars are not that exciting to me anymore and I rarely opened the hood of any car I have bought in the past 15 years

I’m sure there are other oddities about the last 25 years that would utterly astonish the 18 year old version of me.  I wonder how many of my classmates feel the same way.  I wonder if any of us actually stuck to our plans circa 1990.  Did Laurie, Jen, Mr. Wrenn or Dr. Fowler-Finn inspire anyone?