Passing the Torch

Tonight it was my duty to present some medals at Academic Achievement Night.

After twelve years as a teacher, this was the first time I stood on a stage, and placed a medal around a student's bowed head. There was much grumbling among the staff at having to stay late at work, the auditorium was too hot, the sound system wasn't up to par...

But not from me.

I loved it.

After all, not so long ago, it was me awkwardly trudging toward the stage to receive an award, in an adolescent cloud of shy pride. Placing the medal around a student's neck was a moment frozen in time for me. It was like looking back a few years, or a lifetime really, and being transformed from Student to Teacher. When you're an academic at heart, that's the goal.

I've no regrets about the lugubrious side roads I took along the way, but ultimately - that podium, holding that medal, and shaking that hand - is where I was headed all those years ago.

I'm there.