There is life.

There is life here after graduation. I was soooo ready for it to come, but if I might be honest, I'm not sure what to do with myself now. The weekend was beautiful from the ceremonies to the weather to the love and pride that hung in the air. But now I am beyond compulsory education and the four extra years I was blessed enough to get. I've actively chosen to have a year to be selfish and go against expectations. But as I stood in the Courtyard (I'm the one with all the blankets) lining up for Commencement, I got nervous. I realized that I was officially loosing the part of my identity I had made central to who I was for so many years: I would no longer be a student.

Now it'd be easy for me to argue that I'm always going to be a student. Life is certainly a worthy teacher. I think I know mostly who I am and then I find out that there's so much more to learn. But that's hokey. And then even when, not if, I move on to graduate school, the dynamics will be different. I'll be more of a peer researcher then just a student. Like now. With that degree in my hand, I've really earned something. Professors from Meredith are requesting I call them by their first names and be their Facebook friends. Things have changed.

But I won't sit out on this next year. There are plenty of things to do: Play with friends. Write. Find a job...and make some money, or enough to survive. Read some fun books. Watch my ever growing list of "Movies I Must See to Be a Cultured Human Being." See some live theater. Learn to cook a few new meals. Make some plans. Have adventures. Prove to myself there is indeed life after school.