In the End

Of course, in the end, they’re as beautiful as all the untold sunrises before them.

The girls in their formal dresses: neatly placed bows, shimmering lavender under the stage lights, strapless reds, flowery summer dresses, heels Julia Roberts couldn’t touch. For the lone male: a suit and tie. This is the graduating class of 2010. Fourteen creative writing majors from Interlochen Arts Academy, reading tonight, on stage, for their parents and the public.

It’s the kind of moment every teacher should have with his/her students before writing grade reports. The kind of moment that makes you choke up, even if you have only known them for five months. And it’s the kind of reading where, afterwards, when they feel their strongest and their fullest, lifted by the powers of their own words, they skip across the stage and a few of them even give you uninhibited, full body hugs.