In Conclusion, Don't Worry About It

Congratulations! You re giving the graduation speech at Langley High School this year, my dad told me as we bounced down a windy Virginia road in his open-air Jeep. Windy road plus bouncy car plus hair whipping in my face had me jangled, and I wasn t sure I was hearing him properly.
I m doing the what? I asked him. Did I apply for this? I thought to myself. Is it possible I forgot I d said yes to giving the commencement speech at my alma mater? The way my dad put it, it seemed like the happy outcome of some contest, but it was one I didn t remember entering.
Remember Dick, who I play tennis with? No?

 
You know. Dick? From tennis. I no, I don t, Dad.
Well, his granddaughter Kaitlin is graduating from Langley.
Uh-huh.
And you re giving the speech! Isn t that great? he said, as if it was all settled. And while I was sure there was a chink in his logic somewhere perhaps due to the potholes that kept jogging me out of my seat I couldn t find it, and by the time we arrived home, my hair a tangled mess, I had somehow become a commencement speaker.
As an actor, I d performed in front of an audience many times before, but I d never exactly spoken to one. So I asked for advice.
Open with a joke, my dad an experienced public speaker in his capacity as president of a company for over twenty years told me. Don t talk as fast as you normally do, friends advised. Have you seen Will Ferrell s commencement ad-

 
dress? Now that s a good speech, said literally every other person I asked. He d given a speech at USC that year that was, indeed, hilarious. He sang. It went viral. WHATEVER, WILL.
After I gave the speech to the Langley graduates, I was asked to publish it. Are you going to make it funnier? Like that Will Ferrell speech? people asked me when I told them the news.
So, this book started with the Langley speech, but grew considerably from there. I kept thinking of all the worrying I d done when confronted with milestone moments in

Lauren Graham is an actor, writer, and producer best known for her roles on the critically acclaimed series Gilmore Girls and Parenthood. She is also the New York Times bestselling author of Someday, Someday, Maybe and Talking as Fast as I Can. Graham has performed on Broadway and appeared in such films as Bad Santa, Because I Said So, and Max. She holds a BA in English from Barnard College and an MFA in acting from Southern Methodist University. She lives in New York and Los Angeles.