Pomp and Circumstance

December 7, 2007. G-Day — as in graduation.

I'll share it alongside my academic colleagues — some, lifelong friends, I hope.

Funny how waiting for commencement while simultaneously trying to wrap up final projects feels a bit like the final stretch of a long pregnancy — carrying a heavy load, fatigued from the blur of 498 back-to-back sleepless 24-hour periods all rolled into what now feels like the longest-ass day I've ever experienced. The result: I'm scrubbed out, stressed out, pigged out, freaked out, whacked out and so over-and-out of it. But it was worth it.

Counting down ... today is Friday, November 30. Seven days to go, each day another page to be turned. December 7 will mark an end and a new beginning.

Dah, dah-dah-dah, dah-dah, we'll all march to "Pomp and Circumstance."

I can almost imagine it now — walking through the Breslin, choking back the lump in my throat and tears of relief, joy, exhaustion, disbelief. A sea of tasseled black caps and billowing gowns will move about me as if in a dream; the soft rustling of their fabrics will betray our every movement. The air will fill with electric excitement. We are wiser, stronger, more worldly ... exhausted.

As the celebration drones on, I'll sit among my peers, contemplating the friendships, the accomplishments, the celebrations, fond memories.

"Would you do it all over again?" I'll wonder silently as I look forward to all the promises the future now holds.

Amidst the ceremonial splendor and profundity of the moment — even before I will have fully taken it all in, the answer will spring forth from the very depths of my soul, compelling me to ask yet another pointed question: "Are you out of your fucking mind?!"