I woke up at 8 a.m on a Saturday. Ordinarily, you'd be upset if you woke up at 8 on a cold December Saturday, but I wasn't. I was piqued for a brief moment, and then I snuggled back into the couch and just laid there for another hour. Because I finally could.
I graduated Friday afternoon. From college. Because that can happen, apparently.
My parents, who have been staying with me, asked me how I felt on the morning after. I told my dad I wasn't really feeling anything, neither happy or sad. Just really eager to nap.
This is a big difference compared to what happened in highschool. I was emotional most of the week and cried so much after graduation that my parents got upset with me and practically refused to pictures until I stopped crying*.
I was crying because I really liked highschool, and in a few months I'd be moving across the country, while 80% of the 600+ graduating seniors would remain in our state. I was giving up something I'd known for a really long time.
This isn't to say I wasn't emotional during my final week of undergrad. I cried a little in the library when my professor emailed me words of encouragement and an emoticon. I tired my hardest not to hug the freshmen in my screenwriting class, because I didn't want to freak them out. I felt a little bummed out meeting with my advisor in my beloved academic building for the last time as his advisee. I told the Purple Route bus driver, "This is the last ride, thank you!" and he laughed and said "Uh-huh. Merry Christmas," as if I legitimately would be back on that bus come January. If I had been anymore stressed out during finals week, I think I would've cracked.
However, I didn't shed a tear on this graduation day. Maybe it's because I knew what to expect: a long speech, a quick walk, and some ticker tape. Or maybe I didn't cry because it wasn't the end of everything, like highschool.
Every semester of college is the end of something spectacular. People come and go so frequently, that it's a shock when you have someone in your class more than once. It's even more of shock when you realize you don't know their name because you never expected to see them again.
The goodbyes in college aren't what's hard. It's the new hellos.
And that's what I'm getting ready for. With the naps that is. I'm taking a little break and then gearing up for the next set of hellos in my life. I don't know where they'll be and who they'll come from, but they're coming.
I love college, but now I'm gonna love naps even more.
*The 2013 photo is the only photo we took. I kid you not, they don't like criers.
