Endings, Beginnings, the number 22, and Vacation!

To say that the past month or so has been busy would  be largely an understatement. I've had several things going on, including but not limited to finals, graduations, a birthday, moving preparations, and vacation. Fortunately all of these things are good, positive, etc. If they weren't, I'm not sure I would have managed to survive it all.

It seems like a lot longer since I wrapped up my finals and graduated with my Associates. At the time, panic was pretty much what I was feeling. Thankfully I passed all my finals. In fact, I managed to make straight A's this semester. Who knew? There was a brief moment of extended panic when I went to pick up my cap and gown -- because the letter I received in the mail informed me that I could pick them up starting April 20, I assumed that meant I could pick them up starting April 20th. Turns out that's not true. In fact, it wasn't until May 4th (give or take a few days) that they were supposed to be on our campus. Naturally the 4th was when I got sick, and remained so until the end of the week, which meant I was a little last minute picking up my cap and gown. Although if you ask me, saying you'll have them April 20th and not actually having them until May 4th is a little last minute as well. Anyhow, when I went to pick them up on Friday, I discovered the bookstore (where I was supposed to get them) closed at noon. It was about 2pm. So I ask another lady and she says I might have to drive to Corsicana if she can't get ahold of someone. I was so not going to drive to Corsicana. That would defeat the purpose of graduating in Midlothian, as if that didn't go without saying. She did manage to contact someone who said there was an extra cap and gown and I could pick it up after I signed in on the day of graduation, which had me a little antsy. Oh, by the way, the letter that told me I could pick them up starting the 20th? Apparently it also SHOULD HAVE told me that I needed to ORDER a cap and gown. Which it didn't. So I hadn't ordered one. So it was just a miracle that the one they had wasn't too long, too short, too small, too large, or any other too you could imagine considering I was just fingers-crossed hoping it would work fine.

But as it turned out, all went well. I ended up lined up next to a guy I graduated high school with. Small world. I didn't trip, or fall, or make a fool of myself when I walked across the stage. My only complaint would have to be the overwhelming amount of screaming children that littered the audience. Those little guys I could have done without. It was shocking.

Anyhow, as all of this was happening I was also waiting for a college acceptance letter. It was my hope to transfer to Texas A&M in the Fall, and I'd already worked out where I was going to live, who I was going to room with, etc. etc., so I was very anxious to find out if the most important part was going to come through or not. As luck would have it, I got accepted! So my graduation celebration sort of morphed into this "Whoop! I graduated, and Yippee! I got accepted!" thing. I was able to more or less immediately register for my New Student Conference business, which is actually coming up on Tuesday, so that's all moving right along as well. Again I entered a brief extended panic mode when, after checking online and seeing that I needed to register for my conference, and deciding to wait until I got home (I was staying at a friends), and then LATER checking and reading the horrible words, "Your deadline for registering has expired", I was afraid I'd messed up by not doing it sooner. Again, fortunately, that was cleared up as my deadline wasn't as soon because I'm a Transfer student.

So there's that.

Then the birthday. My birthday. Yes, I'm 22. And I'm still not sure exactly how that happened. Or really where the time went. And on my literal birth date, my best friend's graduation was taking place, so I more or less spent the day doing that. But I'm not complaining. I'm very excited for him! And as I am off to A&M in the Fall, he's continuing HIS education by attending NYU for his Masters. So we had a joint graduation-birthday hoopla.

Then the FOLLOWING day, as in the day right after my birthday/his graduation, we loaded up his car with luggage and three other people and made an 8 hour drive up to St. Louis. Which is where my vacation happened. Which was fan. tastic.

We stayed with his sister and her husband, who were gracious enough to let us live in their home for a week. We had so much fun! We went to the St. Louis Zoo, the Art Museum, the History Museum, the Science Place, the park, a Cardinal's game, the Arch, the Landing... I have literally hundreds of pictures, partly because I bought myself a new camera before the trip and it's wonderful. We did so much that separate updates are called for, so after I wrap up this "Here's what's been going on!" post, I'll get cracking on more. So many exciting, new, enjoyable experiences with some really awesome people. 

Thank God for vacations.

I just got home yesterday, and tonight I'm going to see Fiddler on the Roof! Absolutely my favorite musical. So no doubt I'll be posting about that as well.

Tomorrow I'm leaving again to attend my conference in College Station, so there's another few days I'll be gone. It's definitely been a busy few weeks, but I'll take busy-fun to busy-miserable any day of the week. :)