Graduation

Oh my goodness! I cannot even believe that I have graduated from NAU. It almost seems like a surreal dream and someone is going to wake me up and tell me that I have to go for one more semester (which I do have to attend summer school) but more like I just can’t believe that I am done. The past few years have had their shares of struggles and trials and the fact that I was even able to pull off a 3.anything GPA is amazing! I have become a different person than the freshman just a few years ago. I am so excited to be done with this chapter of my life and to not have it hanging over me anymore. I WON! I didn’t let life hold me back and I didn’t let the trials and struggles of the past few years deter me from getting to where I wanted. I didn’t let people hold me back or listen to the negativity that was being spewed at me. Next year I will graduate with my Interpreting Certificate and in a few more years I will have my Master’s degree. What an amazing thought! But now on to the graduation story… So graduation day came and my family and Marc’s family were planning on being there. I knew a few family members and friends wouldn’t be able to make it but I was looking forward to my day. I was working on my Mother’s Day present when my parents stopped by before the ceremony. As I watched my parents, Aunt Gerry, and Mikkel file through the door, I realized that they had an extra person with them… MELISSA!!!! I had known that there was no way in heck that Melissa would be making it to my graduation and I was okay with that. She lives in Jerusalem for crying out loud! But her and Chris had decided that it was important to be there on that day to support me and I am so grateful that they did! It was so nice to have her there. It sounds really silly but I had been really sad that I was doing my own hair for graduation and was really worried about putting the cap on right but with Melissa there I didn’t have to worry anymore! We were all able to make it to the ceremony together and everyone sat as a group while I went to go find the graduates. I almost graduated with a nursing degree rather than a degree in the Interdisciplinary Studies of Speech Language Technology (yeah, I don’t get it either!). I just sat down in the nursing section and luckily realized before the ceremony began…oops! I wanted to make sure that I was looking at my family when I stopped for my photo but had a moment of panic when I couldn’t find them in the crowd. Luckily Marc made sure that I could find the family and I was able to relax once again. After the ceremony, we were able to take some family photos and I think they turned out great! Afterwards we went to my favorite Mexican Restaurant (Tacos Los Altos) and had a great time laughing and chatting. I was supposed to hang out with the Dennis’ on Saturday and then my family on Sunday but with Melissa flying out on Sunday morning, I quickly changed my plans. Thank fully I have the best in-laws in the world and they were really understanding of the entire situation. We were able to spend Saturday as a family and then on Sunday (Mother’s Day) Marc was even able to come down for a bit. It was a really special occasion and I really appreciated everyone’s efforts in making it the occasion that I had hoped for. It meant so much to me that Melissa would sacrifice that much for my graduation day and that everyone else made the necessary arrangements to be there too. My in-laws had a 12 hour drive to get here and Aunt Gerry had to get the day off of work and my Mom had to miss Friday school. What an awesome bunch of family I have! I haven't actually gotten my graduation photos back yet and I am too lazy to go steal the photo off of Melissa's blog but this is my graduation invite that I designed. I thought it was pretty fun!