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Class of 2023

Subhead
Unfold your wings ...and fly, or don't
Lead Summary
By
Brenda Winter, columnist

Forty-two years ago this spring, I ̶ 18-year-old sage that I was  ̶ gave the student address to the Class of 1981.
There were two speakers. I don’t remember who the other speaker was, and I doubt we made lasting impressions on our classmates.
As a matter of fact, I doubt we made any impression on our classmates.
Advice is like that.
The inspiration for my address was a young, lost blackbird that had joined me earlier that week for a brief walk down Luverne’s Main Street ̶ past Smith’s Furniture.
I don’t recall what I was doing there, and the little bird certainly did not know what it was doing there.
“What are we doing and where are we going?” seemed like a fitting motto for both the bird and for me at that particular stage of our lives, but probably lacked the motivational tone required of a graduation class address, so I kept looking.
In the early 1980s inspirational greeting cards were all the rage. My friends and I sent each other cards with “Deep Thoughts about Deep Things.”
Along with the little bird, the card that inspired my graduation talk read,
“Unfold your wings and fly.
Away, into the starry sky.
Friend of mine,
have a good time.”
 
I’m not sure “having a good time” was the most noble of life’s endeavors, but it rhymed with “mine” so I went with it.
I knew a lot when I graduated from high school. I knew I would “fly away” and never live in Luverne. I would never marry a farmer, never have three kids, and as I once announced to my mom while we pulled weeds, “Never!” have a garden.
By 1994 I was married to a Luverne-area farmer, had three kids and a big garden.
In 2023 I’m married to a Luverne-area photographer (same guy), have three kids, four grandkids and an even bigger garden.
So, Class of 2023, as you look forward to the rest of your lives, just know this: Whatever you think you know is probably wrong.
 
Have a good time.

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