I made a promise to my classmate
To not let anyone knock down his tower
While he went to get more blocks from the toy chest.
He got up and left, and nobody came to destroy it, but
His face of pure joy when he returned to see it still standing
Let me know how much my silly act of protection meant.

I made a promise to my grandma
To always get good grades in school
So that when I grow up,
I can be anything I want to be:
A doctor, an astronaut, a lawyer.
And although I do not want those jobs,
I have still made her proud.

I made a promise to my role model
That I would always push towards my aspirations
Even when it seemed most difficult.
“You can do one of anything,” he yelled into my ear
As I felt my arms giving out.
He was right,
He always has been.
And he has no idea how many times
I have repeated those words to myself.

I made a promise to my coach
That I would always have my teammates’ backs.
It was not a promise our team needed to make,
But we all still did.
We do not care about individual stats or playing time,
Because we all strive for the same long term goal.
Road to states.

I made a promise to my teammate
To drop back and stop the fast break
After she made her second free throw.
We played the hardest defense of our lives
In those last few seconds.
She knew I had her back
When the red jersey drove into the paint.
And we won by one point.

I made a promise to my friend
To support her when everything started to go wrong:
Falling out of love, feeling betrayed, becoming isolated.
They were her worst moments.
Even her teachers started to notice.
“Are you okay? You’ve seemed sad these past few days,”
Followed by the infamous “I’m fine” reply.
She wasn’t, we all knew that.
But a friend is all you need sometimes
And that’s enough to pull you back out.
And make everything seem better.

I made a promise to my parents
To stop fighting with my sister
Because we all knew she did not handle the divorce well.
And I’m glad that I did
Even if things will never quite be the same.
It helped everyone move on,
And small acts of kindness went a long way.