Once In A Lifetime

Chapter 16: Valedictory Address

"DREAMER
Never let it be said that to dream is a waste of one's time, for dreams are realities in waiting. In dreams we plant the seeds of our future."
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The seniors were excited as their names were called individually by their respective advisers to receive their high school diploma on stage. After few minutes, when everyone was settled, Denise took the center stage for her valedictory address. She was heavily applauded by the audience and at the same time, cheered by fellow graduates.

As she delivered the opening address, she was obviously nervous, glancing every now and then to individuals she mentioned, who were seated on the stage, some were seated along with the audience. She spotted Caroline in the crowd who gave her an encouraging look and a thumb up sign, enough to calm her spirit. From a distance, she was searching for her grandparents but could not see them in their seats. Maybe, they transferred to a  much comfortable seat, she thought. However, she was assured that somewhere down there, they were listening to every word she uttered. Denise was halfway in her speech when she stopped glancing from her notes and continued her speech spontaneously up to the end.

"Mine was not an easy life.  I was at a lost knowing, there are missing pieces in my life, even if my grandparents are trying to make me whole, even some of you are doing the best that you can to help me pick those pieces together. The truth remains, I can never be complete unless I fully discover who I really am."

Caroline was surprised when she realized that her friend was speaking a different one and wondered if Denise got lost somewhere along the line. She almost memorized Denise' speech for listening to it over and over again during rehearsals. Caroline was very sure, her friend memorized it too by heart.  She could not believe, it was happening. It was not a simple memory gap. Why?

"I appreciate my friends for including me as an extension of their  families, for having known a sister or a brother, a mom or a dad in a family that is not mine. Thank you for sharing your family to me. I had known vicarious pleasure of having parents and siblings - a complete family that I don't have - because you welcome me in your home, when what I could offer you in my place is but just a house, a simple dwelling I can never call a home, despite the presence of my loving grandparents." She was surprised hearing herself touching an unspeakable aspect in her life. She saw Caroline turned emotional  and almost in tears. Take it easy, Denise, she said to herself and continued,

"I appreciate my teachers and the entire school family, for pushing me beyond the limits of my capacity, for helping me  discovered my potentials.  Your guidance, encouragement and genuine love are enough, encompassing my being, although how broken I am but I truly felt I have never been abandoned, even if my own father did it to me many years ago and never come back until now. I comforted myself that he could not fulfill a promise of coming over for me for reason bigger than life, or for reason that death has claimed him already. So that instead of hatred, my prayer would go along with him wherever his soul be. Just like what I always do to my mother who died giving life to me."

Doctor Lacerna, sitting uncomfortable in her seat on the stage, felt a surge of alarm that Denise might go too far in her personal revelation which may eventually hurt the girl even more. She did not expect,  things like this would come out, although, she trust Denise to find her way, ending it successfully.

"Why I'm  saying these to you when for so many years I was hiding every pain, that even my best friend had no knowledge about my struggles? Because I want you to realize,  that even if there are many undesirable circumstances that life has given us, it is still our choice to decide for our future. Every dream we dreamed, can be a dream come true if we choose to wake up from the failures of the past, face our fears and work hard for that something we desperately want until we achieve..." she's coming to her point. Doctor Lacerna along with other faculty were now at ease. Caroline, brimming with smile, admired her friend for being unaffected and making it too easy and so natural.

"Fellow graduates, let us prove to them that we are a generation capable to hammer our future out from the furnace of trials and tribulations. Even along the journey, there are those people who simply don't see our worth. Let us shown them a generation of men and women who can stand firm amidst adversaries in life. We will never stop dreaming, we will never stop reaching our stars until our choice to become men and women destined for greatness has been coveted and become ours. Let us choose to have a solid standing ground and let us move the world. You are what you choose. And I choose to be Luisa Denise Romano, a legacy of a love so true and a paragon of a victorious life. I  am what I am now no matter who I am, and no matter what my past was, because I made a choice to be what I can be no matter who I was. You too can freely make a choice. I challenge you to choose to be what you can be and together,  let us shape the future. Thank you."

Everybody stood up, giving Denise an unstoppable thundering applause for her heartwarming and  powerful  speech. On the other hand, Denise sense a feeling of release and healing coming over her. Finally, she has just overcome one of her fears in her life - facing the past with an armory called today. And she is determined to live day by day with this simple weapon. The future can wait while she is still enjoying this momentous chapter in her life.

Somehow, somewhere near the gymnasium entrance, a family reunion was happening. Gaspar, Soledad and Denis were happily reunited amidst tears, hugs and kisses unnoticed by a huge crowd who was moved with the eloquence of a girl turned into an admirable woman of the hour.

Denis, after hearing his daughter in one corner,  hardly believed how a fragile little girl turned into a very strong and determined woman, yet wrapped up with hatred that he could feel at that moment...suddenly, he felt his own fear was nothing imaginable...his fear was so real, standing brave in front of everybody - his own daughter.
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