Today is graduation day at the prison where we serve. It’s not graduation day for everyone there, but it is for the men in our program. It’s kind of bittersweet. The prison will be closing soon, so today is also our last day there.

Every time we are ready to graduate a class for this particular program we have had something go wrong. The first time we tried, COVID-19 struck. We were one week shy of our graduation when the pandemic locked things down. This year it’s the shutting down of the facility that did us in a few months before we were actually ready to finish. As the facility nears its closure date, men have been transferred elsewhere, so we are down to a mere 6 students today. Not exactly the grand celebration we had hoped for.

However, for the men who are still there, this is a big deal. We’ve accomplished something. It wasn’t exactly what we expected, but your MoM always says that expectations are premeditated resentments, so that’s just fine. We will take it as it is.

Our journey does not always take us where we had planned to go, nor does it always take the path we expected. Things pop up all the time that can knock us off course. That can be frustrating, but it can also be the thing that brings us unexpected joy. It’s all in how we approach the adventure.

Today, we have no cap and gown; we have only a handful of our original class remaining; we have none of the family that we had wanted to participate. But we’ve got ourselves and we’ve got tomorrow. That’s plenty enough to get us to…

—Rise Up!!