Well I did it. Participated in the graduation ceremony for my associate’s degree.
Did I want to go? Heck no!
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| Daddio and I |
If you know me at all, the last thing I want to do is be around people I don’t know and walk on a stage in front of thousands of people in heels. (I was wearing the heels… not necessarily the thousands of people.)
But I went. And you know what? I’m glad I did.
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| Daddio, me and Grandma Rose |
I have never really stopped to think that this is an important milestone. An important chapter of my life to be closed.
I spent three years at that blasted community college. A whole year longer than I had anticipated.
I still have another two-and-a-half years to go at my university, but we won’t dwell on that now.
We were supposed to be to the auditorium at 5:30pm, which is one of those awkward times that you think to yourself, “Do I have dinner at 4pm when I’m not that hungry or 10pm when the ceremony ends and I finally get to a restaurant?”
I went with a bit of a snack of beanitos, string cheese and carrots. I got the beanitos in my SWAG bag from Blend Retreat (recaps here and here).
It was the first time I had ever tried beanitos and at first it tasted a little like burnt chips, but then I could not stop eating them! They are made with pinto beans and flax seeds so they have a serious amount of fiber…in a chip!
The BF came over and got my camera, since he tends to be my photographer….like at my first 10K.
The first three pictures were of the cats at his parents’ house. Nice Dave.
When I got downtown, I could not believe how busy it was! So many students were attending the graduation. Somehow I had told myself that not that many people would be walking for an associate’s degree.
Maybe some of them were like me and were doing it so their family could (sit for hours) watch me graduate.
But I think a lot of them were really proud of their accomplishment, which made me feel like a snob.
Many of my fellow graduates had overcome huge obstacles and gone through a lot to get to where they were. One gal sitting next to me had a 5-year old and looked pretty young, while the other gal next to me barely spoke English.
I have to admit that I’ve worked pretty hard the past three years to achieve my spot on the dean’s list (that pretty yellow medal shows my graduation with honors) each quarter. I have made little money and turned down many a social date to study or do homework. I have agonized over arranging my schedule so that I can also work for 10 or more quarters.
I deserve this degree!!
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| BF (Dave), me, Betty, Bob |
The BF’s parents came too! And if you look closely…it looks like Bob is smiling a little. For some reason, the men in BF’s family don’t like smiling in pictures. I have, after four years, convinced BF he looks good when he smiles. 😉
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| Me and BF (Dave) |
We finally got to get some dinner at around 10pm at Village Inn. Of course I got breakfast food and I decided I’d treat myself with the chocolate pancakes…chocolate and toppings on the side. 😉
BF’s french toast was swimming in butter so I had to get a picture…since I already had my fancy camera out, taking pictures of food.
The camera is apparently so fancy that whenever I ask people to take pictures of us, they gasp and wonder how in the world to hold it. Plus, it’s one where you have to look through the viewfinder…different than the normal digital camera these days.
I finally got the manager to take a picture of us. I am now realizing I never got a picture of me in my dress…except this one. Where I have a pink sweatshirt over my pretty dress. *sigh*
Oh and the blog post title…
I was on my phone most of the graduation. Don’t judge, I made it through about 30 minutes of names, but after that I wanted to die a little so took to Facebook and Twitter. I put a couple of things about graduating on Facebook and a friend congratulated me saying this:
Yep, I am studied up and smart and all! 😉
I am so thankful to have such supportive family and friends who are proud of me even when I feel like I haven’t accomplished very much with my life yet. God has blessed so much in this aspect (okay in many other aspects as well).
Well it’s time to celebrate Daddio’s birthday! It was actually on Sunday, but that is the night I got home from Blend and went straight to bed when I got home.
Have a great weekend friends!
P.S. Have you entered to win my giveaway of some awesome Fitmixer products?? Do it now!! 🙂
