Holy cow. I’m a graduate.

Again, nothing feels all that different. In fact, it’s been such a busy weekend that I haven’t had a free minute for it to set in. My whole family came down Friday night and crashed at my apartment (thanks to my wonderful roommates letting us use their rooms!) and my Granny came bounding down the stairs at 6:10 Saturday morning to wake all of us up 😉

Graduation commenced. We stood around in alphabetical order by major in a practice gym in downstairs Reed Arena for what seemed longer than the 4 year duration of my college education. As I filled out the card stock grad photo order form with tiny pew pencils provided by the career center, I was a little surprised by how anti-climactic the whole thing turned out. Not in a bad way, just in a “this feels like a normal day” way. The only time it actually felt real was as I stood in line next to the stage waiting to cross. The kid in front of me with my same initials hesitated at the top of the stairs, the edge of the stage, to correct the announcer on the pronunciation of his last name. I looked up at the giant screen that would project my image for the entire auditorium to see, although for all but 12 or so I would merely be another body in the mess of nearly 2,000 others dressed in a black robe making that trek, and thought mostly about nothing. In fact, all of it went so fast that it really only feels significant in retrospect.

I guess that’s the case with most experiences in life; it’s only in the context of the aftermath that you can recognize the significance of a specific event.

“I sit alone, and I feel just like somebody else. Man, I ain’t changed, but I know I ain’t the same.”

Now, time marches on. Today, I deposited my moving stipend from work and started the wheels turning on purchasing my car.

Welcome to the real world!