Dear College Students,
Our hearts are with you.
We know this wasn’t how your year was supposed to end
We know this wasn’t how the second chunk of your spring semester was supposed to go.
You were supposed to be mustering up some reserves of perseverance to finish the year strong.
You were supposed to be opening up your dorm room windows and getting spring fever from the warm air.
You were supposed to be going on cross-cultural trips that you’ve been looking forward to for years and that you would have remembered for the rest of your life.
You were supposed to be playing in tournaments or performing in spring shows.
You were supposed to be figuring out summer jobs or next year’s roommate.
You were, some of you, supposed to be talking to your parents about hotel reservations for graduation.
You were supposed to be looking forward and moving forward.
Now, instead, you are scattered, mentally and physically.
You are home or trying to get there or trying to cobble together a plan for staying where you are.
You are mourning—understandably—the loss of an immediate future you had mapped out a certain way.
You are worried, about the people in your world and about the world at large.
You are not sure how to feel, because this isn’t like having a snow day when you were in elementary school.
Even if you are happy not to have to go an 8 a.m. lecture, the reason you aren’t there sobers you.
If you are home, you are trying to figure out how to be there.
You’re trying to figure out what you’re supposed to be doing and what your role is in a place you still belong but where you also feel like a visitor who showed up unannounced.
None of this was how it was supposed to be. But it’s how it is, and as usual, you are making your parents and all of us looking on proud by being how and who you are.
You are purposeful, determined, mindful, intentional.
You are keeping things in perspective.
You are caring about others.
You are checking up on your roommates and classmates.
You are humoring your parents by checking in more often.
You are making the most of a situation that often feels like too much.
You are holding onto hope, and so we are holding on, too, with and for you.
You are finding the way, and you are helping us find it, too.
We love you and are so proud of you.
Love,
Your Moms and Dads
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