The job I have, I mean, there’s something transcendental about it. I can’t really explain. It’s kind of like being in a cult? But it’s not a cult. We don’t have a compound. Actually, the way our job works, we all end up spread out, maybe just handful of us at each place who really get it. My last job I was basically on my own for almost ten years. My new job, I have a team of three (including me).
In December, 2020, I applied for a new job. One of my friends was leaving her role, and thought I might be a good fit, so I applied. It took seven months, but then I got to move to Richmond, Virginia. While I was moving, all my stuff packed up in my old condo, en route to my new apartment, waiting on emails and calls from real estate agents and brokers, I watched “Ted Lasso.” I wept through the entire first season. (If you haven’t watched the show, basically, it’s about an American football coach who moves to England to coach a soccer team, in Richmond. Yeah, kismet.)
I have often compared my career — advising college student media — to college athletics. I can run the drills, the practices, give feedback after the games, but I’m not allowed on the court. Actually if I go on the court, it’s a foul. This is the way I explain it to outsiders. And my parents.
But, I mean, the weeping, it wasn’t really sadness. It was recognition. Somebody, a lot of somebodys, they get it. What it means to be a fan, a supporter, the adviser. The Adviser. The person who straddles the fence, professionally, between college administrator and student advocate. It’s not easy, but for some people, it’s natural. It works. And we love it.
And my friend Kelley loved it. And I am heartbroken she can’t see the next season.
But, I’m also OK. If, in Kelley’s world, “Ted Lasso” never has a final season, then Kelley Lash never has a final season either.
Kelley was it. Service leadership, students adored her, ultimate volunteer. I remember a convention where the airline lost her bag so she just went out and bought all her same clothes. She was most upset about her hair straightener.
And she was a Georgia girl. We’re like a cabal, the Georgia faction of college media advisers. I don’t even work in Georgia anymore, but I’m still in the clique (shhh). Journalism is hyper-local, so our vibes are, too.
But what Kelley really is, enduring, is kindness. Yes, I’ll add another slot of volunteering. Yes, I’ll talk to your yearbook students. Yes, I’ll go get cheesecake with you at midnight. Yes. Yes. Yes. The spirit of yes. The spirit of more, more, more.
And that Kelley loved “Ted Lasso,” and that Kelley’s Twitter will forever be “Be curious, not judgemental,” well, it makes me want to cry just like “Ted Lasso” does. But it isn’t sad crying. It’s “I know” crying. It’s worry. How can I live up to her expectations? How can I honor her? How? I mean, I know how because I know I have to.
I can show up. I can work hard. I can think about her. I can think about her smile and know that if she was here, and I said hi, she’d smile at me. And that’s how I know I knew the real Ted Lasso.