A Shout Out to my fellow graduates of 2k, and all of the other alumni who celebrated 10, 30, 40, 50, 60, or more years since high school. Forest Grove was a nice town, area and place to grow up and go to school.

I was reflecting on the challenges of this year, and it inspired me to write about these and other chalkenges those in my generation have faced.

You Got This

We grew up mostly without computers, the internet, or cell phones

We had a few video games, but liked to stay out all day, playing ball, climbing trees, riding bikes and buying ice cream cones

Life was simpler; when we fell off our bikes, without helmets, or protection, we would skin our knees and elbows, and we would boisterously cry

But, our moms would clean us up, tell us to toughen up, and send us right back out to play, to get back up on that bike, and just fly

And so we did, until after 9pm during the summer, we'd stay out, having a blast

In elementary school, the Gulf War hit, and we realized the world wasn't safe like we had thought in the past

Then, in high school, the shootings by Kip Kinkle and at Columbine ripped away our innocence, and showed us that school was a much more dangerous place to be, then it was before

But, we made it to graduation, and off to college, when 9/11 rocked our world, and the world became very unstable with war.

Some of you answered the call, and protected us by joining the military or EMS services, and for that, we are truly full of thanks, for meeting and conquering all of your fears.

Despite all of the uncertainty, we continued on to graduate college, and start our careers.

And then, the recession of 2008 hit like a flood, and threatened to take us all under.

But, we survived and continued on, getting married, having kids, working hard, enjoying life, and living life out loud, like thunder.

Living large, hitting them out of the park like Sammy Sosa, home run king, a super go getter

Life was starting to flow more easily, driving down the lane like Lebron, on his way to an easy two, though we still think

MJ Was Better

Established in our 2nd or 3rd career by now, things were looking mighty fine, until the worldwide virus scare of 2020 rocked everything to the core, and made us want to just give up and leave

Life is not as easy as defeating Bowser and beating the game, or having every problem solved in 24 minutes with the help of Danny, Jesse and Joey, or even with the parents of Wally and the Beav

But, continue on my friends, God's got a plan for us all, to bring a sweet melody to our song

There's unending challenges, of twists and turns, and tons of hills and valleys, that only serve to make us more resilient and very strong

Maybe you lost a job, or two, or maybe things in your family or life aren't that great

But, no matter how many times you've fallen, just get up, get cleaned up, and get back up on that bike and just ride out until it's late

Like Nick said on Family Ties, Heyyy, You got this

Life is full of shows you don't want to miss

Like TGIF, it's hilarious, like Urkel on ice

It's on like Donkey Kong, like white on rice

You had me at Y2K, so Y2KXX is a breeze

Let's go back to Urkel, anyone got some cheese?