“My parents wept, my brothers chuckled as I was swept away,
I remember my joys, my sorrows, my griefs, to this very day.
I remember the excitement, joy and unknown,
as if my departure was nothing I’d known.
That was soon forgotten as I walked down the path,
through an experience that would forever last.
As I think of it now it was a powerful thing,
My childhood was done – I could hear the fat lady sing.
Though it’s now over it’s never quite dead,
the good and the bad still live in my head.” – Excerpt from My Journey by Megan Thompson, 2002