Parents’ Post A Newsletter for Parents and Friends of The Thacher School
Year-End 2002
Dear Parents and Friends: We begin this last Post of 2001-02 at the very end of the year, with the final words Head of School Michael Mulligan spoke to the freshly-minted graduates of the Class of 2002 on June 1, at approximately 11:30 a.m. PST: So now, here you are: diplomas in hand at last, suitcases and boxes packed up, ready to leave, your ship about to weigh anchor. I’m reminded a little of another goodbye moment captured by Jeffrey Eugenides in a piece (“The Burning of Smyrna”) he wrote about his grandparents setting sail from Greece, heading westward for fresh opportunities across the Atlantic. He writes, It was the custom in those days for passengers leaving for America to bring balls of yarn on deck. Relatives on the pier held the loose ends…[A]s the ship blew its horn and moved away from the dock, a few hundred strings stretched across the water. People shouted farewells, waved furiously, held up babies. Propellers churned, handkerchiefs fluttered, and
up, on deck, the balls of yarn began to spin. Red, blue, yellow, green, white, they unwound toward the pier, slowly at first, one revolution every ten seconds, then faster and faster as the boat picked up speed. Passengers held the yarn as long as possible, maintaining the connection to the faces disappearing on shore. But finally, one by one, the balls ran out. The strings of yarn flew free, rising on the breeze. As much as I appreciate the beautiful image of all those lines of color aloft in the air, I end not with yarn let go of, but rather, with this assurance to you: if you have been a Thacher student, the ball of yarn is, in fact, limitless. It can extend on forever. And we will hold on to our end, regardless of how far you travel, how many oceans you cross in your lives beyond CdeP. We send you off today with the fervent hope that you’ll hold on to yours.