Infinity and Beyond
The 20s are all about adventures. What remains crystal clear to me every single day is that each one is distinct from any other. From dawn to dusk and all the moonbeam laden hours following, the escapades of the day both are contained to that day and yet reach beyond it. It's a wonder that we are allowed to make meaning daily. The ups, downs, and the damn good plot twists in between make our lives truly legendary epics. What will you write today? To infinity and beyond!
The days after graduation were an absolute blur. I still cannot believe that my college story has concluded. It is beyond me in so many ways and yet it is the matter of fact truth. Just as quickly as it had begun it was all over. It was something like a dream just totally ephemeral and phantasmagorical. Four years had come and gone but what I take with me are the memories, lessons, experiences, but most of all relationships that I created in my time. I am a different person entirely than when I started my journey through college and for that I am grateful. I have a future, one that others often call remarkably bright if one of those that serves as a beacon for others. I don't know about all that but if the everyday escapades I endured are any indication of what I have ahead of me - it's going to be a wonderful life.
Infinity and beyond means that just because an experience has concluded does not mean it will ever really be finished. I carry all that I been through with me. It becomes part of who I am. It is my backstory, my truth, and my motivation. Infinity is never-ending and to go beyond it implies pushing past the impossible. For me that has been my biggest takeaway. I am not only empowered, or able, but expected within myself to do the impossible. It's already been done in so many subtle ways. When all else fails, the love that serves as my guiding force catapults me past it all and into the territory of the unknown where no one else has ever gone before. To infinity and beyond, because I can and will surpass all limitations, minimizations, and expectations placed before me.
I'm aware this post is quite late but it's been a hectic couple of weeks. I'm just happy to finally have some time to write again and this is a bonus post before everything changes. I have one more to write to wrap up my college story before shifting this blog to it's new format (to be determined). All I know is I don't just want to write, but I have to. This blog is one of those consistent things that has defined my life, and allowed me to identify those big moments and people of love, but also the impossibilities that were made possible in my life. Like I said before my time in college may be over but it will all come with me, especially since it's documented in excessive detail through this blog.
You're probably wondering what I've been up to since I last wrote (or at least I like to pretend you have been). It's been chaos to say the least. After graduation, I flew home and spent a day relaxing figuring out the cognitive dissonance that always come with travelling between my two very different contexts of existence. My family was preparing for our graduation party and so I spent the week indulging in my favorite things about home (family, food, and friends) while running errands like nobody's business. My dad, my brother Christian, and I hit the car dealership for car shopping and some bonding time. Patching wall holes, picking up food to be grilled, and multiple trips to the airport to retrieve family were how my days were filled. I was thoroughly exhausted but in the framework of my family I have always been the fixer (like Olivia Pope and Annalise Keating only not) so I did my duty. Abruptly it was Friday night and the next day both my brother, Eugene, and my beloved sister, Bianca would be graduating from medical school and high school in the morning, respectively. What is the likely that both of them would have their commencements on the same day, at the exact same time (as in we had to choose). I don't believe in coincidence - just blessing and destiny. It was about to be a family affair; raise a glass - to infinity and beyond.
Shocked would be an understatement for how I felt to see my sister fully dressed in her regalia. I was taking pictures of her on our front lawn and just crying. There is no one else in the world that I love more than her and have always felt like a quasi-parent to her. Seeing her fully grown up and ready to embark on her own was more than overwhelming for me. Soon I was in the car with my sister-in-law, Kristen, and her daughter/my niece, Quinn (hands down the most beautiful child who has ever existed in every way) along with my mom. Downtown we drove and we sat in the Cintas Center as the program began. Speech after speech, and there sat my sister in a sea of red and blue mortar boards ready to graduate. Her moment came and she stood to accept her diploma. An explosion of cheer is what can only adequately describe how loud those who came to show our support and love for her was. I lost my voice for her and cried uncontrollably. She is the reason, along with my other family and friends, that I can reach infinity and beyond. I will NEVER forget her telling me she loved me when I needed it most in high school when I felt invisible and didn't want to exist anymore. She told me how she couldn't live without me and that she needed me. She changed my life with those words. She is everything and more. Her intelligence, humor, beauty, and most of all compassion for others is unlike anyone I have ever known. People are drawn to her and leave forever altered for the better because they have known her. I solemnly swear that she will do the impossible because of who she is. She is the impossible and defies it daily.
We stopped to take pictures and pick up our triple graduation cake. People flooded our house and it was go time. All of the Oteng clan, minus our senior brother, Rocky, were together. I was surrounded by those who loved me most and those who destinies were intertwined with mine. The energy and spirit when we all congregate is something indescribable. Food, laughter, pictures, and good times were had. People came, and came, and just kept coming. From all over the country and in the community to shower us with their love. It was awe-inspiring. Our neighbors, friends, and even some of our teachers (s/o to Mrs. Contratto - forever my prom-mom and biggest supporter) came out in full force. I was so happy. Truly, madly, deeply overjoyed with where I was, who I was with, and I came to be. And just like that, it was all over. Night came and I packed up my carry-on bag to head back to Vermont to serve as an orientation leader. I had only spent a few days at home but those were days I would never forget. To infinity and beyond.
My blog post question for the day is ... when do feel like you conquered the impossible? I tell you when I'm with my siblings - there's nothing we cannot do!
"Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone - we find it with another" Thomas Merton
The days after graduation were an absolute blur. I still cannot believe that my college story has concluded. It is beyond me in so many ways and yet it is the matter of fact truth. Just as quickly as it had begun it was all over. It was something like a dream just totally ephemeral and phantasmagorical. Four years had come and gone but what I take with me are the memories, lessons, experiences, but most of all relationships that I created in my time. I am a different person entirely than when I started my journey through college and for that I am grateful. I have a future, one that others often call remarkably bright if one of those that serves as a beacon for others. I don't know about all that but if the everyday escapades I endured are any indication of what I have ahead of me - it's going to be a wonderful life.
Infinity and beyond means that just because an experience has concluded does not mean it will ever really be finished. I carry all that I been through with me. It becomes part of who I am. It is my backstory, my truth, and my motivation. Infinity is never-ending and to go beyond it implies pushing past the impossible. For me that has been my biggest takeaway. I am not only empowered, or able, but expected within myself to do the impossible. It's already been done in so many subtle ways. When all else fails, the love that serves as my guiding force catapults me past it all and into the territory of the unknown where no one else has ever gone before. To infinity and beyond, because I can and will surpass all limitations, minimizations, and expectations placed before me.
I'm aware this post is quite late but it's been a hectic couple of weeks. I'm just happy to finally have some time to write again and this is a bonus post before everything changes. I have one more to write to wrap up my college story before shifting this blog to it's new format (to be determined). All I know is I don't just want to write, but I have to. This blog is one of those consistent things that has defined my life, and allowed me to identify those big moments and people of love, but also the impossibilities that were made possible in my life. Like I said before my time in college may be over but it will all come with me, especially since it's documented in excessive detail through this blog.
You're probably wondering what I've been up to since I last wrote (or at least I like to pretend you have been). It's been chaos to say the least. After graduation, I flew home and spent a day relaxing figuring out the cognitive dissonance that always come with travelling between my two very different contexts of existence. My family was preparing for our graduation party and so I spent the week indulging in my favorite things about home (family, food, and friends) while running errands like nobody's business. My dad, my brother Christian, and I hit the car dealership for car shopping and some bonding time. Patching wall holes, picking up food to be grilled, and multiple trips to the airport to retrieve family were how my days were filled. I was thoroughly exhausted but in the framework of my family I have always been the fixer (like Olivia Pope and Annalise Keating only not) so I did my duty. Abruptly it was Friday night and the next day both my brother, Eugene, and my beloved sister, Bianca would be graduating from medical school and high school in the morning, respectively. What is the likely that both of them would have their commencements on the same day, at the exact same time (as in we had to choose). I don't believe in coincidence - just blessing and destiny. It was about to be a family affair; raise a glass - to infinity and beyond.
Shocked would be an understatement for how I felt to see my sister fully dressed in her regalia. I was taking pictures of her on our front lawn and just crying. There is no one else in the world that I love more than her and have always felt like a quasi-parent to her. Seeing her fully grown up and ready to embark on her own was more than overwhelming for me. Soon I was in the car with my sister-in-law, Kristen, and her daughter/my niece, Quinn (hands down the most beautiful child who has ever existed in every way) along with my mom. Downtown we drove and we sat in the Cintas Center as the program began. Speech after speech, and there sat my sister in a sea of red and blue mortar boards ready to graduate. Her moment came and she stood to accept her diploma. An explosion of cheer is what can only adequately describe how loud those who came to show our support and love for her was. I lost my voice for her and cried uncontrollably. She is the reason, along with my other family and friends, that I can reach infinity and beyond. I will NEVER forget her telling me she loved me when I needed it most in high school when I felt invisible and didn't want to exist anymore. She told me how she couldn't live without me and that she needed me. She changed my life with those words. She is everything and more. Her intelligence, humor, beauty, and most of all compassion for others is unlike anyone I have ever known. People are drawn to her and leave forever altered for the better because they have known her. I solemnly swear that she will do the impossible because of who she is. She is the impossible and defies it daily.
We stopped to take pictures and pick up our triple graduation cake. People flooded our house and it was go time. All of the Oteng clan, minus our senior brother, Rocky, were together. I was surrounded by those who loved me most and those who destinies were intertwined with mine. The energy and spirit when we all congregate is something indescribable. Food, laughter, pictures, and good times were had. People came, and came, and just kept coming. From all over the country and in the community to shower us with their love. It was awe-inspiring. Our neighbors, friends, and even some of our teachers (s/o to Mrs. Contratto - forever my prom-mom and biggest supporter) came out in full force. I was so happy. Truly, madly, deeply overjoyed with where I was, who I was with, and I came to be. And just like that, it was all over. Night came and I packed up my carry-on bag to head back to Vermont to serve as an orientation leader. I had only spent a few days at home but those were days I would never forget. To infinity and beyond.
My blog post question for the day is ... when do feel like you conquered the impossible? I tell you when I'm with my siblings - there's nothing we cannot do!
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