I Found My Word!!!

During my high school commencement, as I sat in my cap and gown waiting for my turn to rise, I watched a girl who was nine months pregnant march up on stage and receive her diploma. At that moment, twenty years ago this May (BTW, to all you SHS alums out there, is there a reunion planning committee?), I remember thinking that it would be so ...something... if she were to give birth on stage - because then it would be a commencement of another life, and another phase in her life.

At that moment, I believe I actually had a particular word in mind, but it has long since escaped my memory. And off and on throughout the years, I have remembered that moment and tried to come up with the perfect word to fit. And somehow I've rejected all the words I've come across, waiting for that A-HA moment when I am reminded of the very word that my eighteen-year-old brain came up with. Here are some of the words that I, or others, have come up with that have been close, but not quite right:

apropos
appropriate
fitting (just not poetic enough)
ironic (well, not really)
cool (yeah, that doesn't quite grasp the concept)

Now, by now I'm pretty much outed as a geek (who else would ponder something like this during commencement, obsess so much about a particular word, or, worst of all, admit it in public?), so it should come as no surprise that I have, for many years, subscribed to the merriam webster word-of-the-day email mailing list.

And today, I found my word. It may not be the exact word I was thinking of back then, but it does fit both in meaning and sufficient poetic criteria.

Main Entry: fe·lic·i·tous
Pronunciation: \fi-ˈli-sə-təs\
Function: adjective
Date: 1789
1 : very well suited or expressed : apt (a felicitous remark)
2 : pleasant, delightful (felicitous weather)

synonyms see fit

— fe·lic·i·tous·ly adverb

— fe·lic·i·tous·ness noun


I also thought it felicitous that I used to attend a school called St. Felicitas.

And how's this for a coincidence (which it probably truly is): I moved to Strongsville and started at the schools there in January in 3rd grade. And today, my eldest son returns to school after winter break - and he's in 3rd grade.

And I remember a kid in my class (named Brian) wearing a Browns jersey (Brian Sipe's, which is why I remember the kid's name, though I have no idea anymore of his last name). And today, my 2nd son wore his Browns jersey to school!

I think I'll stop now.

Go Mustangs!