I’m arriving in my hometown tonight for festivities surrounding my nephew’s graduation from college.

Passages like the one he’s going through this weekend always remind me of my own childhood.  Thoughtful and a bit of a loner, I remember riding my bicycle around the neighborhood in the summer, all by myself, wondering and dreaming.

What would my life be like when I was grown up?

Back then, I couldn’t have fathomed the twists and turns my life would take.

Or that it would pass in what seems like the blink of an eye.

I hope he’s as lucky as I was: many of my dreams have come true.

It’s such a strange feeling, this looking back from five decades on. And then, I look at my nephew, almost 22, preparing to take his first small step into adulthood.

When I was 22, M. and I were already married and living in Tallahassee. He was in law school and I was knee-deep in my own education. But I was as clueless about life as my nephew is. As all young people that age are. Maybe even more clueless.

But I dreamed.  As I hope he does.

Because dreams are where the future begins.