Graduation Speech for Massage School

The journey began in April 2008. At least on paper it did. For many of the students graduating today, the journey started months, years, or decades before. Some started at other schools, some in different classes, but all striving for the same goal. To help others through the use of our hands in therapeutic massage. A couple nurses, a truck driver, a few stay at home moms, a nanny, zoo educator, baker, loan officer, cosmetologist, retail associates, business owners, quilter, barista, chiropractic assistants, and a few other professions met each other one night and became class mates, friends, and family.
We were told to get used to each other because school would take the place of life, while life kept happening. Life didn’t let us forget it was still spinning out of control. We experienced death, weddings, unexpected set backs, surgeries, job losses, relationship problems, family mishaps, sickness, joy, good grades, bad grades, spouses gone for months at a time, children going to college, a couple injuries, and anything else you can imagine happening within 20 months to a small group.
That small group started out with 23, now we graduate with 16, some of those joining our starter group from other stages in school. We lost some, and we gained others, all very much a part of our school family. This brings up a question: Do journeys really end, or does your destination just become a stop off along the way, as you add new destinations?
We would like to thank our instructors, and the staff of the school for their organization, their knowledge, their love and support. We thank them for all the sacrifices we know they made for us to get our education, and to make sure we got a good one. The time they sacrificed, the monetary sacrifices and the sacrifice of time they could have been spending giving more massages and making more money, they decided to help us become great massage therapists. For that we would like to give Deb Bomkamp and Haleta Holmes each a gift to show how much we care about them and how thankful we are that they were our instructors. Deb and Haleta brought humor and color to classes that would otherwise have been boring and mundane. (if you have ever listened to our recordings of class you know we mean COLORFUL!) They made learning fun and made sure that we know our curriculum. They made coming to class enjoyable and helped us form friendships we will have for the rest of our lives. It is very obvious that they care about their students and their students care about them.
We would also like to thank our families and friends for their unending support and sacrifices as well. While we were at class and school functions they took our places and filled in our gaps until we could get there. They helped us study, fulfill hours of practice (some more willing than others), went to some of our class events, some children even came in to class with us when babysitters were no where to be found. Spouses dealt with our endless studying and stress from school, and some have even helped us build additions to our homes for our future businesses. Friends helped us with childcare and always offered to let us work on them, except for some of that “weird” stuff like TMJ work and abdominal massage. When we came at you with washable markers and wanted to draw the muscles on you didn’t hesitate, after all it wasn’t the weirdest thing we asked of you! But you all know how hard it was for everyone involved and how wonderful those free massages were! And you will all try to get those free massages from us for a while longer, we know, we already have all that figured out! And of course we have your names written in our scheduling books for weekly or monthly appointments.
So, we are continuing on the next steps of our journeys, and you are here with us! We appreciate everyone that has walked along side of us, walked ahead to pull us along, and walked behind us to push us forward. We look forward to the many stop offs, pot holes, speed bumps, construction, and smooth flat surfaces of the journey ahead, and the fun that road trips bring to a group of friends along for the ride. Thanks for joining us, and thanks for helping us, there is no one else like you on this earth.