I was going to mark my college graduation anniversary with a post celebrating the major changes that have occurred the past year. However, work has once again gotten the best of me and so far I’ve only written about 1/12 of my year. But I think it’s okay because you’d probably kill me if I crammed the other 11/12 into one post anyway. So without further ado, here’s part 1 of my reminiscent series documenting my first year out of school.

May 2007:

Elation and and overpowering sense of loss dominate the days.  You turn 22 on the day of your last college final.  You laugh and cry and celebrate all at once because you have never been very good at change.  You are especially bad at leaving things behind.

And that’s what graduating is.  It’s leaving behind friends and roommates and those random kids from class that you don’t actually talk to but you’ve heard them ask enough dumb questions to feel like you know them.  It’s parting ways with droning professors that taught you to love crosswords and with amazing professors that taught you to love so many different subjects simply because of the passion that comes from learning interesting new things.  It’s saying goodbye to long days on campus, moving from class to class, job to job, building to building.  You used to dread these long days, but nostalgia at the end makes you realize that there are fewer places more beautiful to spend an endless day.  Graduation also marks the end of your three day weekends, you late morning classes and even later nights, and the last time until 65 that you can legitimately consider going on The Price Is Right.  It’s the end of the way of life you’ve known for the past 16 years: school.  And as the big day approaches, you think that maybe you should get a second major and start all over because you’re really not ready to graduate.

It’s scary, but it’s exciting.  Because you are also saying goodbye to tests and textbooks and all-night cram sessions and procrastinated papers.  Your family comes in from around the country to celebrate with you.  There are dinners and awards banquets and more pictures than you could imagine.  And you realize that maybe this dreaded graduation is actually a big accomplishment.  And you smile though you fear the unknown. It starts to feel like the world is at your fingertips, and you hope that perhaps someone out in that waiting world wants to give you a job.