I can't get used to it

So I guess its time to blog about graduation. Here goes

I'll start with Thursday... well I guess Wednesday (May 6th) Wednesday Kyle and I drove to Chapel Hill because Josh was having a graduation party at his house . It was a lot of fun. I think Kyle was crowned the BP king for the night. Then we went out on the town (at midnight) and around 2:30 when the place started to close down we went to wait for the bus... which never came. So we flagged a taxi which took us as far as $10 would take us... and then we walked back to the house, ate pizza, and passed out between 430 and 5. At 830 the next morning we had to get up and drive back to Campbell. I was meeting Dusty, Chelsea, and Sarah Jean for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory in Raleigh. We had a lot of fun with that. Strangely enough we ended up meeting up with my dad in the mall wherein a 15 minute argument about the best way to get back to school ensued. We picked up Kyle's cookie cake (which unfortunately it turned out they could not make a spongebob graduation cake), and realizing it was 2 p.m. already and we had a party to get ready for (round 2) we hit the road. Of course I cried because I had to say goodbye to Chelsea because she wasn't coming to the party* 

Moving on. Kyle and I got to Dusty's before everyone else so I could give dusty her present.. and just incase my parents got there early. I popped open a BLL and talked and laughed with the people in the house. One by one people started arriving. My dad got there and gave me part of my graduation present (a tripod and monopod holla!) and then I believe my mom and jim arrived right as dinner was being served (baked ziti!!) We sat down to eat and Lance and Amber, Sara, Cameron, Aaron, Brittany, Josh, Johnny B and others trickled in.  Surprise of all surprises Chelsea walked in. I think I actually shrieked. For those of you that know me well.. this does not happen. It was a crazy combination of people. I love them all. 

Dinner was eaten and people spread out around the house just chatting and catching up. I felt like a bouncy ball going back and forth between people trying to take in as much as possible. Lance gave Dusty and I one of the best graduation presents ever. At some point a bunch of us had gathered out on the porch. We were blessed with a spring storm. As soon as it started to pour both dusty and I decided that we of course had to run out in it for old times sake. Then Sarah, Chelsea, and Brittany ran out of the house and we took one last epic run in the rain. It was truly amazing. 

We went inside to mop ourselves up and then someone (i don't remember who) decided to put on Hellgoodbye's Here in your arms. Which is our dance party song from sophomore year. So Chelsea, Sarah Jean, Dusty, and I all joined in for a hysterical and slightly awkward dance. We normally do this in private... not this time.. but alas. We had fun :)

 After that my parents left and Dusty's sort of made themselves scarce then the real party started! Just kidding... haha I suppose after the parents left we probably got louder and crazier but nothing too intense... never our style. 

For a while I just sat on the stairs and watched the laughter and the smiles and listened to the buzz of the conversation. Being a wallflower was always more my style.... Eventually a few other joined me on the stairs and we talked about the old days of Burkot and Campbell and many other irrelevant topics (such as how we were emo for sitting on the stairs) It really was a beautiful night. Even though it was the last time we would be able to get together like that there weren't a lot of tears.I might have been the only one who cried actually...but anyway... Mostly there was just love...

The next day I spent a lot of time packing. Or tried to. Around 11am I broke down but luckily Kyle walked in about 5 minutes later and rescued me. We took some stuff I had and dropped it off at Goodwill and then drove to Cary to meet my parents and Camden and his crew for lunch. After that we just chilled at the hotel my parents were staying at. It seemed a little silly to drive all the way back to school if we were just going to come back for dinner. My grandparents showed up mid-afternoon.  We went to dinner at Sushi-Thai... a restaurant Kyle and I discovered far too late. After dinner we went back to school and packed more and then watched Jackass... comedic relief. 

Saturday. The BIG day. I woke up earlyish to pack more and to get things in order. Kyle came over around 10am after he had gotten everything ready for the day. We wrote our "matriculation day" poem and tried to relax for a while. At about 1030 - 11 my dad and Camden et all arrived. It was HOT. Definitely the hottest day of the year so far. We ran to ChikFila to get some food for everyone and then Ruthie and Heath and my mom and Jim showed up. Everyone left around 1230 to head over to the convocation center to make sure they got seats. Kyle and I walked over to the convocation center to get ourselves seated and lined up. This was the most surreal experience. Walking into the practice gym and seeing all of these people in caps and gowns. We all found our own little hand sanitizer spray bottles in our seat (to protect us all from swine flu... ahem... H1N1) Which I found slightly comical. Then we sat down in our assigned seats for an HOUR proceeding the ceremony. Mr. McGirt droned on for 45 minutes about proper decorum and such... nobody listened. 

Finally around 2 we began marching into the arena. I was the last undergraduate student in line (and to walk) so it was quite the wait. The ceremony was ridiculously long.  Hannah, Amy and I spent a lot of time being silly...to keep ourselves from dying of boredom. At some point I saw where Kyle's family was and I started making weird faces at Ben who was trying to take a picture of me. It made me so happy and proud in a weird way to watch Aaron, Sarah, Dusty, Kyle, and Carl walk across that stage. The social work majors graduate by themselves and we are the last undergraduate program to walk. It was great to see everyone walk. When you spend the majority of 3 years with the same 16 people...working on ridiculous papers and prjects..  you become close in a way. I wasn't really nervous to walk... except that i had really high heels on and I didn't want to trip.. although some comedic relief might have been good for some of the parents in the audience. Finally around 5pm (yes... 3 hours later) the benediction was said and we began the long process of marching out of the arena. It took until 520ish to get everyone outside and ready to take pictures but we finally did it. There was a 15 minute flurry of picture taking and then kyle and I and both of our families had to depart post haste to get to Raleigh. We had reservations at 630... oh dear.

Did I mention it was HOT? We hurried across the street.. figured out the logistics of how everyone was going to get there and then sped off. Kyle and I broke apart from the group so we could make a stop. A storm was busy brewing so it just got hotter and hotter until all hell broke lose. I hate driving in the rain. And driving in 440 in evening traffic in the driving rain is a nightmare. So needless to say when we got to the restuarant I needed to sit in the car for a moment and breathe. But I was also really hungry. Altogether there was about 22 people in our group. We ate  Taverna Agora, a greek restaurant on Glenwood that was just delicious. It was a really fun dinner. By the time I had eaten (and had a glass of wine) and calmed down I as completely exhausted... and about as excited to drive home as I would be to sit through that ceremony again. But we made it... mostly alive. I still had a little bit of packing to do. And Kyle needed to pack for the trip. I think I made it to about 1030 and then fell asleep faster than I can remember doing so in a long time. 

All in all it was a great experience. I understand why a lot of people choose not to walk because it is a hassle but its also an irreplaceable experience. Plus it was new to me as I did not have that option in high school. I really had a great time in the days leading up to the ceremony and the day of. I am so thankful for the family and friends that made the effort to get there and who sat through the entire thing. Especially my 5 and 7 year old nephews and my 82 year old grandfather. Bless their patient souls. 

So whats it like to be done with college you ask? Well first I would just say I'm not really done. I have 2 more years to get through... though it will be different. But otherwise I would just say its still surreal. I still feel like I will be headed by to campbell in August. I know I won't. But I don't think I'll totally realize that until I get settled into the next chapter...