Grateful: #Classof2020

“The unfortunate, yet truly exciting thing about your life, is that there is no core curriculum. The entire place is an elective.” ~Jon Stewart

My younger daughter is graduating from high school this week. Yes, she’s one of the now-and-forever to be famed Class of 2020. Seems like just yesterday when I was carrying her in my womb. I remember vividly when the 9-11 attacks occurred…and many a day I wondered what kind of world my child would be brought up in. But always, I hoped for a better day and committed to do my part in any way that I could.

As a working mom, the tensions between personal and professional priorities have been a constant struggle. Realizing that if quantity of time was the measure of success, failure would be certain, I’ve tried to hone in on the quality of time spent with family and friends. Focusing on those “no do-over” moments and experiences throughout my kids’ lives has helped, but little did I, or anyone for that matter, know that for the Class of 2020, those “no do-over” moments would be cut short and take on a very different form.

Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, I’m certain that I’m not the only one who has mourned both the tremendous and tragic loss of life all around the world but also the loss of experiences, milestone or otherwise, for loved ones, like my daughter, and her Class of 2020 comrades. I’ll admit that I’ve thought to myself more than once “if only…” – “if only, I had known there were going to be no senior banquets”, “if only, I had known there would be no prom”, “if only I had known there would be no college visit trips allowed”…you get the gist of it. Chalk it up to lessons in regret and guilt – neither of which is productive, either mentally or emotionally.

That said, among many other things, what this global pandemic has done is caused us all to “pause” and “reset” in ways we never expected to. So rather than the expected moments and memories, we’ve each had a completely different set of experiences. While the intensity of working around the clock has been both challenging and rewarding, even more impactful has been the opportunity to spend time – both in quantity and quality – with my immediate family. My belief has always been that my greatest legacy is my children, and being together throughout these unprecedented times has been priceless. I am still doing my best to capture those embarrassing mom moments – with “drive through” senior experiences and perhaps an over-utilization of social media (like many).

Through it all, I have so much to be grateful for. I’m grateful for the Class of 2020 for their resilience, perseverance, flexibility, and optimism. I’m grateful for how we as a society have come together to battle this virus. I’m grateful for all of the first responders, frontline, and essential workers who continue to lead the fight for us. I’m grateful for my AT&T Business team members who have rallied in support of customers across the market while also supporting each other. I’m grateful for how we’ve focused on making a difference and having a positive impact across our communities. And, I am truly grateful for my kids, who make me a proud mom every single day.

Congrats to all of the Class of 2020! While the future is uncertain (because it always is), know that it will be better because you are in it and shaping it. Be the change.