Relief washes over him as he hands in that last stupid assignment to his professor. But he’s sad. It’s almost like he welcomed the stress of the deadline in his day-to-day life.
Final meetings of school clubs are held in the long, evening rays of late April, where summer plans are made in earnest, but they will never come to fruition as the friends grow apart, unable to overcomes the distance.
He sits in the gymnasium dressed in his funeral black, along with everyone around him. But there are still others dressed in colors of all hues of the rainbow making the room look like a flower, with a black center and beautiful petals.
A tuft of hair falls on his face and he reaches up to move it, only to realize it’s the golden tassel from his graduation cap. On the count of three, he moves the tassel along with everyone around him, setting off thunderous applause from friends and family.
He had been attending a funeral, but so had I. My funeral was for the death of my life at community college, and in its place I could celebrate a birth. The birth of the next chapter of my life.