I’m sorry to say that the folks I wanted to spotlight this week were 1) too busy for the interview or 2) decided against it for some reason. 😦 No worries, though! I’ve already made some contacts for next week (ah, yes! Ahead of the game!), and so I hope that this will be the only out-of-focus Friday that we’ll have for a good long while.

I had an amazing day, thanks to two incredible people, Ali and Pratik, who both stopped by school today. It’s Ali’s birthday today, and we had a great conversation about the big things: life, writing, relationships, family, all of it. Ali, I thank you for that. This is exactly what I was talking about in yesterday’s post about interacting, getting out there and having experiences, talking with people, making connections.

Pratik stopped by to drop off some books on becoming an EMT/First Responder. The tables have turned for us. Now he’s teaching me, and I couldn’t be more thrilled. Since I first met him years ago, he has always been deep beyond his years, and just like my conversation today with Ali, Pratik and I always seem to skip over the superficials and struggle with the bigger issues of life.

These are good, good people, and I am grateful that they are in my life.

It would be easy to gloss over them, though, and I think of all the teachers/mentors who see their alums as nothing more than the students they were at the high school level, stuck in some kind of time warp where they will always be immature, unfocused, a challenge–whatever.

They grow up, and we need to let go of who they were in a high school classroom and see them as the older, more mature individuals they have become.

So maybe this Friday Focus is dedicated to you, Ali and Pratik, and all the others out there who have since graduated and are discovering a very different life out there, a very different you. It’s all good, folks. We stay focused on the present, on the Now, on who we are and where we are, at this singular moment. It’s all we can do, sometimes, as we’re making it through some of the more challenging days.

And Pratik and Ali? They got me through this day, and for that, I am humbly grateful.