Caps and Gowns

Well, my sister is graduating from college this weekend. This certainly brings back memories from last year when I graduated.

I can't believe that it has already been a year. My anniversary of being a normal adult contributing to society has come quickly. I'm just about 24 years old. That's crazy. I remember back when I was still a teenager in college and I was working with people in their mid-20s. I really looked up to them. I thought that it would be so long until I was their age... and now here I am. Time is a very strange concept. I wonder what it is like not being encapsulated by time. I think that's what I'm gonna ask the big man upstairs when I kick the bucket.

Anyway, graduation. Yeah... that was a really weird day for me. There were so many people I saw there that I hadn't seen for years. Friends from my dorm floor my freshman year, acquaintances from my classes my sophomore year, profs from my junior year, and then lots of people from both of my senior years. :-)

And there were really strange feelings, too. I almost felt obligated to talk to some of the friends I hadn't seen in a long time, but I actually ended up doing something that surprised me... I met new people. While we were waiting in our caps and gowns in the depths of Qwest Field that day, I hung out with a girl who I just met and a guy who I barely knew.

It makes sense, though. There were so many relationships in my college life that just disappear. They are gone for the rest of my life. Graduation is not just about reminiscing about the past few college years, but also setting goals toward the future and future relationships.

At times I felt bad because I hadn't kept up all of the relationships in my college life, but now I know that would've been impossible. Most people scatter after college. If we're lucky, we'll hang onto a couple/few close friends after college. Realistically, there are transitional times in our life when we are able to grow. College was that time for me. Sure, I'll continue to learn and grow throughout my entire life, but college was one of the few times I was surrounded by people with many different opinions and ideologies.

Now I am more set in my beliefs, more set in my goals, and more set in how I want to serve the Lord for the rest of my life. Graduation was the send-off for me that I needed to get my head on straight.