Valedictorian

Two weekends ago now, I got to go see my oldest niece, Emily, graduate from high school. As she was a valedictorian of her class, she got to give a speech. Of the five speeches given by the valedictorians hers was by far the best! I was sure that my sister had helped her, but no, the graduation was the first time she'd even heard it! Graciously, my beautiful, smart, funny niece gave me the transcript to post on my blog:


On the box of the board game The Game of Life, it reads, "Where will your choices take you? You made it through high school, now what's next?" According to the instructions the object of the game is to "travel the path of LIFE making decisions, building a family, earning money (and paying some too), buying homes, and collecting LIFE TILES."
The first decision is made right at the beginning of the game: College or Career? By now most of us have already made that decision and found that the choices are many.
Once we decide what path to take, we spin the wheel and move our number of spaces. Some of us get high numbers like 8, 9, or 10, and move quickly. Some of us get the lower numbers such as 3, 2, or the sometimes dreaded 1. But we take what we get, move the spaces, and read what the space says, hoping that it is good news. Sometimes it is! We may collect money for something like writing a Best Seller! But sometimes we land on a "bad" square and have to pay fees for a surgery.
Those little yellow squares can bring joy with a "NEW BABY" or the can bring grief with the two words: "LOSE JOB." Sometimes we land on them and sometimes we don't.
During our jounrey, we often come to stop signs, and even though we may still have moves left these stop signs represent times in our life that we will have to make important decisions, and we must stop. We may be choosing our career, getting married, or buying a home, al the while collecting LIFE TILES.
LIFE TILES are what I consider the most important part of the game. The game instructions tell us that LIFE TILES are "all about family activities, community service, and good deeds." The way I like to describe them is by calling them the "memorable moments." We have already collected some from high school, and most of us may be collecting one right now. Just like in the game, we never know the true value of these moments until we look back on them years later.
So, here we are, at the beginning of the game. We are about to start a great journey. On these crazy, winding roads I wish you, the Class of 2009, the best of luck. I pray that God is with you, on the good spaces and the not so good spaces, and that He guides your choices at every stop sign you come to. Remember that the most valuable part of this wonderful Game of Life is not the speed that we move but the memories we make at every turn.

Ah...that's my Emmy!
We were all soooo proud of her!

Congratulations Emily!!