Dear Class of 2020…

When I first started seeing posts on Facebook about all you guys missing out because of this COVID-19 crisis, my initial thought was… “They are probably just happy to get to finish school early. They don’t have the take any more tests. They got off easy!” And there may be some who feel that way.

But then I thought about my own senior year of high school. And then I thought about how I would have felt if I hadn’t been able to play softball that last year. I would have been heartbroken. Devastated even. We weren’t any good, so it wouldn’t have been about having one more year to try and win a championship or anything like that. It would have been all about grieving the end of the only constant I had growing up, the only thing I truly loved.

And that’s when I completely understood. THIS SUCKS!

I’m sorry that you won’t get your senior prom. I’m sorry that your last yearbook is going to look completely different. I’m sorry that you won’t have that chance to roam the halls one last time before you say goodbye. I’m sorry that you’ll miss those last meetings to discuss your class song and class quote and class colors and all the other typical graduation things. I’m sorry that you likely won’t get to walk with your classmates, in your gowns, to those seats that you’ve longed to be in for so many years now. Whether it’s in a gym or on a football field or in a large venue, I’m sorry that you don’t get your moment to shine in front of all your friends and family. I’m sorry you don’t get to have your senior night at the last home game.

Though I know that none of this is my fault and out of our control, I felt like it needed to be said.

But, we will all get through this. We all know it. We are just in this weird waiting period with more downtime than we really know what to do with. Which leaves us all with a lot of time to think. About life. About the future. About God. About our purpose here. About what we want to do next.

Some of you may already know what that is. You may already know that you want to go to college. You may have known since you were little that you wanted to be a doctor or a teacher or a mechanic or one of a thousand other things. You may already know exactly what you want to do with your life. And that is amazing. I’m so happy and excited for you. And I’m rooting for you!

But I would like to get real with the ones that aren’t so certain. The ones that are clueless. The ones that thought they knew, but with life looking so different, maybe they aren’t so sure anymore. To those people, I want you to know one very simple thing.

It’s ok to not know.

It’s ok to take some time to think about it. To go live a little and figure out who you are and what you are passionate about. It’s ok to not jump right into college if you don’t know what fuels you.

Take it from someone who didn’t grow up knowing that she wanted to a doctor, teacher, mechanic or rockstar. Take it from someone who only enrolled in college because “that’s what you’re supposed to do after high school”. Take it from someone who used college as a way to get out of a place she hated being. Take it from someone who took 5 1/2 years to graduate with a General Studies degree and is still weighed down by the burden of student loans. Take it from someone who learned the hard way that it’s ok to wait.

Sometimes it’s in the waiting that God draws you closer to Him. He takes that time to heal you. Heal you from the obvious stuff and from the wounds you never even knew you had. And it’s in that healing that passion rises. Desire blooms. Heart softens. Spirit awakens. And that’s all it takes for your purpose to be just a little clearer.

Give yourself time to let God mold you, show you, then guide you. And allow yourself to fail. It’s the only way you’ll ever be able to succeed.

So, graduates… It may not look the way you expected or wanted, but you still made it. And that’s something to celebrate. CONGRATULATIONS!

I would love to be here to help in any way that I can. I am available to take any pictures you may want with you in your cap and gown. (For free and from a safe distance of course. I have a lens that will allow me to be far away and take great pictures.) If you are interested, please drop a comment below or fill out the form here. You can also let me know if I can be praying for you about anything specific. Thanks for reading!