WARNING: SAPPY SENTIMENTAL-NESS FILLS THIS POST.
I can’t believe I’m graduating. Every morning I wake up, and it’s like another week has flown by and we are so many days closer to graduation day. Soon the balloons will go up in front of houses, and cars will have silly writing on rear windows, and friends will get together and get kind of drunk with their families in tow, all while crying and laughing and feeling the feels.
It’s absolutely terrifying. And I have random breakdowns about it too frequently. Usually while I’m driving in my car and In The Garage by Weezer comes on and I break into hysterics at the wheel (I had to pull over once on the thruway because I was such a mess and literally could not handle myself). It’s weird stuff like that. It’s me watching Reality Bites for the eightieth time and just fully understanding the premise. It’s me picking fights with my BFFs because I am an 8-year-old child and have no idea how to handle my emotions. It’s me giving my number to random guys because we have two weeks of school left so who the f*ck cares what happens?
So when these moments of hysterics pass me by and I’m finally (sort of) level headed and can (kind of) think straight and In The Garage stops playing on my iPod, clarity comes to me.
Graduation is going to suck. But college was awesome. And our futures are bright as hell.
Leaving our friends, and this weird little home we’ve made out of this tundra is going to be devastating. And it’s also going to be devastating to have to pay regular price for drinks wherever we all end up. And yeah, there are going to be times that the freaking sky looks a certain way and I’ll probably start to cry because it reminds me of Oz. But we have amazing things ahead of us. All of us. We are a part of 2 percent of the world population that gets to attend college- and even less than that 2 percent actually graduate college. How incredible is that?
Aside from being apart of such a small portion of people that has the opportunity to go to, and graduate from college, we were able to do amazing things and meet amazing people. Maybe you studied abroad and had the opportunity to use that Spanish you have been learning since the seventh grade. Maybe you got to go to Alabama or Louisiana to help build homes for Habitat for Humanity. Maybe you were able to do hands-on research for your capstone. And think of the people!
I have met the greatest people here at Oswego. My professors have been amazing and I can proudly say that I have learned how to think in so many different ways thanks to my teachers and classmates. My life has changed here. I have gone from one career track, to one completely the opposite, but I had the support of mentors I’ve found while working as an RM in Johnson. I had the support of my playwriting professor from my freshman year. But most of all, I had my little support group that I created back when I was 18-years-old, and just as terrified of the future as I am now. I had my little makeshift family to support me in everyway possible. They pushed me. They listened to me b*tch and moan about applications. They let me read things to them. They made me pass French. They let me do wacky things to them so that I could find the right word I was looking for, for some action line in some play I was writing. They came to my play readings. They took pictures for my mom. They’re my BFFs, and the closest thing I have to family for 400 miles. And I met them here, in this freezing desert of a place.
And leaving them, and my teachers, and my mentors is doing to be heartbreaking. But thanks to them, I am looking forward to my next leap forward. And I am so excited to see the wonderful things they all do in the years to come.
I know that you ladies have had similar experiences to mine. That you’ve made life connections with your peers and your professors. That walking across that stage is going to suck, but all of the wonderful, messy things that come after it are going to be wonderful.
So get your friends together and make food for each other. Drink cheap wine and then go to Mug Night. Sing karaoke with your BGF and dance your butt off. Tell your friends you love them. And get excited. It’s been one hell of a party. And there is so much ahead of us.