Reflections....

Emmanuel College copyrighted by Judi Getch June 2017

Fenway Park copyrighted Judi Getch June 2017

Well, I thought things would slow down when I stopped traveling, but Alumni Weekend was upon me before I knew it.

Being part of the Board, we act as ambassadors spending many wonderful moments trading stories with Alums both younger and older.  It was not a reunion weekend for me, but it was for other classes like my sister's.   I wore her class ring and sought out her class members to tell them that she had died two years ago.   They told of the fun they had had with her at the previous reunion.  I met a woman on the Fenway Tour (which I supported) who had known her when she had been a Dean.  It seemed that everywhere I turned there was a whisper of her.

Copyrighted Judi Getch 2017

And then, Saturday night, as they set up for dinner, out came the center pieces... Fiona from the book that I had written and dedicated to my sister!  There Fiona sat on each table with her family in a bottle.  I don't believe in coincidences... so thank you to my dear sister for letting me know that she was near.

I feel so energized when I return to campus.  I have good and not so good memories as all of us do.  For me, I had a tough major and minor - Math and Physics, complicated by taking extra classes to obtain my teaching certificate.  Spare time was at a minimum, but, in spite of all the studying, I managed to squeeze in some time for fun - dances, spring break in Bermuda, proms, dates...  and even a bit of writing for the newspaper.  Friends came and went as did boyfriends.  Then, graduation appeared on the horizon.  For all of us, a new chapter of our lives stood before us and each of us took that leap of faith that we would land on our feet and do great things.  Coming back to campus gives us a chance to admit how that leap lived up to our expectations.  I personally had no idea what I would do... I just clung to that piece of paper that I had earned and jumped into life delaying graduate school for a few years.  

Having fit all my practice teaching into vacations senior year, I obtained my teaching certificate, but knew that teaching was not what I wanted to do,   When I took a position as a mathematician on a space project, I had found a home... initially designing and implementing software for every kind of application imaginable, and many that you couldn't imagine. :-)

When I return home to my college each year, I'm grateful to my parents for instilling in me the worth of an education, to those tough years within the ivy covered walls that instilled in me a love of learning and service, for the confidence that my parents and this college gave me so that I could compete in a man's world, and for instilling in me a drive to set my feet upon a trail that at times was hard and untraveled, but that produced the best life and career ever.   Thank you to all those who have passed through my life and left their mark upon me.

Having shared my feeling from this weekend, I hope you all are gathering from life what you need to interject into your writing... hope, gladness, sorrow and sadness.  Gather these feelings into your writing basket and continue on... remember, there are no second chances.  Choose wisely, look backwards only to learn lessons not to wish to change events, and keep moving forward.

More on my writing next time... the French manuscript is progressing pretty well :-)  The research has been fun :-)

Till,
Judi