i've changed my blog title!

i hadn't loved "a passing fancy," and since i've been blogging for almost three years it clearly isn't a passing fancy any more.  and it's a little cliche.  ugh.

to explain how i got to this new title, i'm going to excerpt a portion of the speech i gave to the seniors and their parents few weeks ago in my role as twelfth grade dean of students.  during the final week of school, the parents hold a senior dinner for the students and their families, and invite the head of school, principal, twelfth grade dean, and a faculty member specially chosen by the students to speak.  here's what i said:

Tonight I want to talk a little bit about friendship as you leave high school to go your separate ways in the world. 
C.S. Lewis, most famous as the author of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, said this: “Friendship is the greatest of worldly goods. Certainly to me it is the chief happiness of life. If I had to give a piece of advice to a young man about a place to live, I think I should say, 'Sacrifice almost everything to live where you can be near your friends.' I know I am very fortunate in that respect. ” 
For the last 1, 2, 10, 19 years you have lived near your friends. Some of you will continue to live near your friends as you attend the same college or a college in the same town. I have lived in the same town as my friends for the last 7 years, and I, like you, will depart this town in August for a new adventure, leaving friends behind. I have loved this C.S. Lewis quote for a long time; I have several close friends who are almost like family, and I agree with Lewis that friendship is one of the most important things in my life. One of the scariest things about moving is leaving my friends. 
C.S. Lewis says, “sacrifice almost everything to live where you can be near your friends.” There is a time for this in your life, certainly, but I would say to C.S. Lewis that he’s wrong. We can’t restrain ourselves that way. Lewis very famously met with his friends (including J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings) – he met with his friends every Thursday evening for 20 years. When I move away – and you move away – we will certainly miss those rituals we had with our friends – whether we had a standing Thursday night together talking about literature, as Lewis did, or whether our ritual was going to Blimpie’s for lunch on Fridays. But if you “sacrifice almost everything to live where you can be near your friends,” you sacrifice a great deal. You get the Blimpie’s sandwich with your friend on Fridays, but you may never become the person you are meant to be if you don’t leave your comfort zone, meet new people, listen to new ideas, see new parts of the world. 
Helen Keller famously wrote, "Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing." So how do we balance this – the daring adventure with the advice to live near our friends? I would argue that Lewis’s quote doesn’t hold true in a world with cell phones with unlimited calling plans, affordable airfare, skype, and Words With Friends. We don’t have to sacrifice everything to live near our friends – we can find other ways to connect with them. That is my advice for you. I hope you do allow yourself a daring adventure, picking a roommate you don’t know, taking classes in areas that interest you, joining clubs and organizations that help you meet new and interesting people. Your best friend from high school will always answer your phone call when you get home at the end of the day. 
Make the most of your daring adventure.  

this has been a really interesting year - applying for school as the seniors applied for schools, hearing back as they did, worrying about financial aid, taking "college days" to visit schools.  more than ever, i felt like i understood what my students were going through as they prepared for one of the biggest transitions (yet) of their lives.

friday was my last day of work - it's summer! - and it seemed an appropriate time for the blog to reflect the changes in my life.

in addition, this video is bad ass and you should watch it.

friends, i love you all.  thanks for reading, and thanks even more for being a part of my life.