Anna Rae Gwarjanski Portfolio |
I'm graduating with my master's this weekend and moving out of the town I've lived in for the past six years. By the end of this month, for the first time in my 23 years, I will no longer be a resident of Alabama. I'm packing up my apartment now, and I'm going through things I've saved through the years. I just came across the speech I wrote for my high school swim banquet. When I wrote this in 2010, I was leaving a team that had become my family and a school that felt like home and preparing to walk onto Alabama's swim team. I was scared, but I was determined to do a good job. Maybe I'm just being nostalgic, but I'm remembering my feelings then and thinking that they're not so different than what I'm feeling now. Once again, though it's a different sport and a different school, I'm leaving a team that feels like family and a school that feels like home. I'll be a solid day's drive from the family and friends who have supported me my whole life. I'll be the city editor at The Paris News in Paris, Texas, and while I'm nervous about this new job, I know that I'll work hard to make my bosses proud they hired me. I'm leaving Tuscaloosa with no regrets.
I never had an official title for my high school senior speech, but its motif is gratitude. Currently I am stressed, overwhelmed, and scared, but I am also thankful to everyone in my past and present. You have all helped me along in some way. Thank you, family, for giving me the trust and opportunities y'all have. You've set me up for success since I was born, and I have always felt lucky to call you mine. Thank you, Tuscaloosa, for being a city large enough to allow me to grow, but small enough to still feel like a community. The people I have met here have become part of my extended family. Thank you, UA swim team, for being my home base for so many years. Swimming allowed me to find a steely inner strength that I didn't know I had and gave me friends to rely on when I couldn't make it by myself. Thank you, journalism professors, for teaching me to take pride in my profession. There are people in the media who give a bad name to journalism, but I still believe what y'all have instilled in me-- that reporting the truth is noble and necessary. Thank you, rugby team, for giving me life this year. You ladies are so strong and accepting and have changed my life. The following is what I wrote at the end of my time at Baylor. It all still stands true today, but the list of specific people to whom I feel gratitude would be enormous. I'll try not to let you all down. So most of you know how terrible of a public speaker I am because of my embarrassing chapel announcements, but you’ll just have to bear with me. Even though I am a horrible speaker, ever since I learned seniors give speeches at the banquet, I have been excited about this day, and I have been basically writing my speech since my sophomore year. I have been looking forward to this because I finally have a chance to publicly thank you all for making my life so much fuller. This team really has changed my life. I never really felt like I belonged before I came here-- I mean, most of you know how weird I am. But you guys accepted me exactly as I was. They say blood is thicker than water, but I say water laced with chlorine is probably just as thick. We are a family; there is no doubt. I see more of you guys than I do the people in my dorm, and you can only sweat and cry with a person so much before you HAVE to become like a brother or sister. So, at times, I wonder what life would have been like at my old school. If I would’ve been as happy, maybe ever happier. But then I stop. Not only because you can’t change the past, but because I really don’t know how I could be any happier than this. Now for the thank you’s: El Dub, I’m so glad you were my prospective and that you came here and we became friends. Alison, I have so many inappropriate things to say to you that I could not say up here. Arden, thank you for being my OTH and Bachelor buddy. I’ll have to find a new person at Alabama to watch reruns with, but they will never replace you. Li’l Nikki, I don’t even know what to say to you, except that you will have to come visit me and we can show everybody up with our rockin’ dance moves. Bria, same goes for you, and if you ever got a problem, call yo mama up and I gotcho back. Savannah, here’s your shoutout, and I will always be your ORIGINAL fabs girl. Don’t you forget it Ashley. Ashley, I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to find another running buddy as slow as me. So I really don’t know what I’m going to do in college about that. Brian, I will miss our inappropriate talks and your weirdness. And your MLIA posts on my wall (that I got you started on). So keep them going. Kristen, six words: he-who-must-not-be-named. Coach, thank you for believing in me enough to take me to juniors when I didn’t have any individual cuts yet. And don’t let too many ducks walk into a bar. Tom, thank you for being an awesome coach and always knowing the right thing to say when I’m freaking out about a race. Last year, I don’t know if you remember, but we were running Hell’s Hill and let’s just say I was struggling. I wasn’t making it all the way up, so you grabbed my arm and literally dragged me up the hill. You said that I was better than I had been doing. I love how you not only told us to do something, but you did it with us to make sure it was done.\ Mrs. P and Daddy P, thank you for always taking care of me and opening your home on One Tree Hill nights. Someone said “teamwork can be summed up in five short words: ‘we believe in each other.’” Thank you, all of you, for believing in me. Now, finally, if you look under your chairs, you’ll see I’ve left a present for you. You might say, “but there’s nothing there!” Well you can’t see love. And that’s what I’ll leave you with: lots of love.
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About the AuthorConfessions of a failed southern lady. I've got messy hair and a thirsty heart. Writer, photographer, career wanderer. Archives
May 2023
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