I must admit when I got the call, I laughed – nervous – not sure that it was real. But she kept repeating it – that I was voted into the Hall of Fame for my high school. And laughter’s tears turned into tears of joy. Not prideful in the way of look at me — but prideful in the way that I felt a part of something. A part of something that I had been too frightened for too many years to admit how important it actually was to me. But it mattered. School was everything to me. A safe port. A home. But it is terrifying when something means that much to you, to admit it. It leaves you so vulnerable. Wide open. But it is there, as they say, when all the love can get in. And it did. Still does.

A friend of mine is being voted in at the end of the month. My only advice is to let it all matter. Let it mean everything. Wave from the parade. Smile. Laugh. Let the tears and the tenderness flow. I think it might be the truest form of gratitude — to show other’s that you are willing to risk it all. To be vulnerable.

And I suppose it’s the same for everything. Work. Friends. Love. To snort when you laugh — bent over in a language that most can’t even comprehend. To let tears fall without saying a word. To wave joyfully, and rapidly and scream to the world, these people are in my parade! And I am a part of it all! No embarrassment. Only joy. Only love.

I was timid in school for years. I refuse to be timid in life — it all matters too much. Congratulations, Terry Quist! Thank you, Sue Quist!