The Graduate

After 5 years of college, I finally finished.  Of course, true to Kirsten style, it was not without incident.  

First, here is the graduate announcement I created and sent out. 

I thought it turned out cute and true to my style instead of a classic graduate announcement.  

I did better this semester than all my previous semesters which means finals were not too difficult.  Randal and I spent the time relaxing, studying and soaking in my final days of school.  We (Randal, Sal and I) even went on my first mountain biking ride.  My legs and butt were killing me.

My parents, grandparents, and my siblings, Zack and Des, and my adorable niece, and also Randal's parents and his Sister and her son came down to Provo for my graduation.  I loved having everyone here and it really meant a lot to me.  On graduation day I went early to the Wilk to get all set up to walk.  My family went and found seats in the ballroom.  

While waiting to queue up and walk, we were handed graduation program with all the graduates names in it.  My friends and I all searched for our names and mine was nowhere to be seen.  Yep.  I wasn't on the program.  I was immediately panicked.  I wanted to just walk out of line and go home.  I was so embarrassed.  Knowing that my entire family came out I knew I couldn't so I stayed and tried not to get too emotional.  I think people thought I was nervous or sad or just crying because of graduation.  

Randal called and wanted to tell me that they couldn't find my name either.  He thought I wouldn't be able to walk and thought I would be close to having a melt down.  Which I was. ha.

When all the graduates walked in, my seat ended up being on the end of the row and Randal came over to hug me.  I broke down and just started sobbing.  I was a mess.  After a quick pep talk from Randal, I got it together and realized I was still going to be able to walk, I would just have to sort out everything with my counselor after the fact.  

As it turns out, I ended up being the last graduate to walk so not only did I have my family cheering for me, I had the whole crowd cheering.  Talk about a boost to your confidence!  It all ended up working out thank goodness, but I'm still pretty ticked about it.

As a family (including Brenda who just graduated that day and Crystal) we headed over to El Gallo Giro for a celebratory lunch.  My parents surprised me with a Bernina Sewing machine.  It also includes sewing classes and maintenance for 2 years!  Yahoo!

via

I have so many things I want to get working on and I'm so happy to have a nice machine to work on.  Not only did I get that but I got some great presents from Randal's parents and cards from friends and family.  It was a great day, but the best thing is not having to worry about school anymore.

I have been running in the mornings, weeding my flower beds, mowing the lawn, and spring cleaning.  I also have work of course, but it is nice not to have homework.  Randal already started classes yesterday and boy am I glad to be done with that!  Finally.

Now, the down side of graduating.  I don't have a "real job".  It's fine to work odd jobs during college but once you graduate people expect you to start working in your major.  Well my major is useless without graduate school, and since that's not something I want to be doing right now, I'm stuck.  It's an awkward period of my life and I don't like it.  As much as I hated school, at least I could stay in that "emerging adulthood" demographic but now I'm expected to be a full blown adult.  I feel a bit useless.  

My parents reminded me that they both have successful careers that having nothing to do with their degrees.  My mother's being Art and now she owns a concrete barrier company, and my father's being sociology and now he is a pilot.  So I just need to wait and find my niche.  It's just hard when you have dreams of graduating and finding the perfect job, but it really isn't like that at all.

So for now, I'll just be basking in all my graduate glory and hopelessly working on finding my calling in life.  Wish me luck!

Randal hates this picture of himself, but I think we look great.
I could have never done it without him.