Seeholzer's State of Mind: Respecting your elders

I’m going to depart from my typical silliness this week and attempt to write something meaningful (to those looking for another ridiculous story: I apologize in advance, you can stop reading now).  This might get more awkward than a Sally Field acceptance speech.

I’m pretty arrogant, as any avid reader of this column can attest (just check out some past issues of the CN).  
I don’t know if it’s pride or simply ignorance, but I’m often ungrateful to those who are always there for me whether it’s parents, coaches, teammates or co-workers.  Without their help and guidance, my life would be very different.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I certainly can’t foot the bill for my education right now.  Sure, I have a loan and I contribute as much as I can to paying my tuition, but without the help of my parents I’d probably have to work a dead-end job at the age of 18 and miss out on the entire college experience.  
I don’t want to make it sound like the only thing they do is help me pay for stuff.  I’m pretty inept in general and they’re always there to clean up after my messes.  I’d like to thank them for everything they do for me.

For awhile most of the people I knew at John Carroll were freshmen, and they were some cool peeps.  
However, over the past few months I have gotten more involved and met quite a few upperclassmen who I now know very well. They’ve done a lot for me and as they move on from JCU I’d like to take this opportunity to give them a proper send-off.
I wouldn’t have this column right now if it wasn’t for the blind faith of those on the staff of The Carroll News giving a journalistic novice like myself a chance to try his hand at something that he really knew nothing about.  

I absolutely love writing this column and I think I might become (slightly more) mentally unstable without it.  Thank you for the opportunity.
I’ve spent every day since January running...a lot…outside in Cleveland.  I didn’t always like it and the weather was hardly ever nice, but I still did it and that’s a testament to my coaches and in particular my teammates.

  I’m not going to beat around the bush– I’m not very fast, but I’ve never worked harder or had more fun being a below-average athlete than I did this year.
My teammates were very helpful as far as teaching me ways to strategize within races, warm-up and cool-down and just general running knowledge.  
They gave me life advice too, by teaching me things like how to move appliances, kidnap a stuffed toy, recognize undercover cops, resist the temptation of looking at the clock, and even how to fly.  I want to thank them for teaching me what it means to be a leader.

This probably belongs in a blog or diary…err, I mean a journal (since I’m a guy) rather than a newspaper, but when I was given this column I was told I could write about whatever I wanted.  
The only two stipulations that I was given were to make it about 600-650 words in length and make it funny.  After a lot of thought I decided that this needed to be written.  
I know it’s not exactly humorous, but it’s real, and I think we all need a little realness from time to time (I promise there will be something funny for you when you return next fall).
Pardon my personal bias but I think a track analogy is befitting here.  
To everyone reading this, especially those who are graduating: as you come to the end of this leg of the relay of life, don’t forget to run through the finish line and make sure you get in a good cool-down and stretch afterwards.   

I’ll be here to take the baton…STICK!