“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” Steve Jobs
Graduation Weekend: We celebrate our graduation ceremonies on Mother’s Day weekend. This is always a special time for all. Besides the graduates themselves, equally involved are immediate/extended families, loved ones and friends. Receiving a degree, regardless of it being a BA/BS, MD, or PhD, is a special achievement. Everyone deserves congratulations. For me, seeing the School of Medicine and the Department of Biology graduate their students is a proud and joyful time.
Graduation Advice: I leave the students with this advice (on the last day of my undergraduate class)- You can do anything your heart and mind wants to pursue, you just have to work hard and stay focused, even if you are unsure of what path to take. Following a dream, following what you like to do, following a hunch about something, they can all work, just think about it, act on it, and see where it takes you.
Graduation Advice From Others:
“We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.” J.K. Rowling
“Life is an improvisation. You have no idea what’s going to happen next and you are mostly just making things up as you go along.” Stephen Colbert
“Don’t treat your heart like an action figure wrapped in plastic and never used.” Amy Poehler
My Future Graduation Ceremonies: Every May, I look forward to graduation weekend events. Sharing congratulations with students and their families is such a wonderful time (and life-sustaining event). This year with the heat/humidity, two walking trips across campus (first in full regalia and then in coat and tie) wore me out physically. In hindsight, the last month has been sleep-deprived (end of semester ‘stuff’), never a good thing for someone with Parkinson’s (I know, easy to correct, just get more sleep).
In the end, graduation means hope to me, the completion of a cycle, a sign that August begins anew, and brings renewal. Thus, hope + graduation weekend sustains me, helps me resist my Parkinson’s. Already planning for graduation next year, and the next year, and…!
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” Dr. Seuss
Journey with Parkinson's 