Graduation 2006

It is amazing to think about how much life can change in only a few years. Looking back six years at my high school graduation I can remember being anxious to get on my way to college, to life in LA, to an idea of independence I had been craving for years. I was thrilled at the prospect of making new friends in a new place. And even though I cried when my parents left me in my dorm room in Desmond in August 2000, it was tears of change more than anything else.

College graduation in 2004 left me facing a new challenge - life back in Northern California, single and still unsure what I wanted out of my future. When I left my apartment in LA on May 14, 2004 it took everything in me not to burst into tears. I was leaving the life I had known for the last four years for a new unknown. This was a change that I hadn't spent my life planning for like going to away college. In a lot of ways I felt like I was starting over in a lot of ways.

And now that I will be awarded my Masters Degree tomorrow it's so strange to look back and see all that I have done in the last two years and how different my life is than it was in 2000 or even in 2004. During these years I have created a home in a new place, found new friends, traveled to England, Scotland, Los Angeles and Washington DC, made my way through a new academic program and crafted a 311 page thesis (okay, okay 250 pages were appendices but still I can brag!). And on top of it all, I was lucky enough to reconnect with a man who has become a supportive and loving partner.

I suppose that this is one of those points in life when I need to stop and be thankful for how blessed I have been.