Caught In The Whirlwind
Posts tagged graduation
Graduation! (No, Not Mine!)
May 14th 2007
Yesterday I went to my friend Jason's college graduation ceremony. 2…hours…long! While it was slightly uncomfortable sitting there for that long (I was numb halfway into it), it was worth it. I met him during my first year of college and seeing everything he's struggled through since then…it was nice to see one more hurdle behind him.
I ended up sticking around for most of the day. We went out in search of Army of Darkness later which was hard to find. I eventually found a copy used in FYE and snatched it up immediately. Definitely worth the purchase price. Wassy also bought the last two volumes of the Chobits Manga which I was in favor of since I could see how it ended finally. We went back to their place and watched Army of Darkness which was so awesomely bad, it defies description.
After that we went out to a celebratory dinner at Outback, and then I returned home so that I could step on my glasses and completly ruin the frame. Sigh. I need to go about getting a replacement pair sometime this week. That's something that I definitely didn't need to spend money on right now.
QotD: Take Me Back
Jan 27th 2007
If you were told you could relive a moment in your life, which would you choose?
Submitted by Slight Diffusion.
At this point, it would probably be my High School graduation day in 2001. As much as I was bummed about parting from some of my friends and the people I knew (although, as it turns out, I’d see most of them at the community college I did my first two years of college at), graduation brought me a great feeling of accomplishment. Not just in the academic sense, although that was part of it as well, but also a feeling of accomplishment in developing as an individual.
Prior to high school, I was that kid that everybody made fun of. I had some rough times, ended up in the principal’s office more than I’d like to admit, as well as suspended from school for 5 days after a situation got out of hand (That might be a story for another day.) But going through my 4 years in high school, I really developed as an individual. I learned not to let stuff bother me as much, I learned that some of the kids in the more popular circles actually wanted to hang out with me (although I was never really “in” with them as much as some of their other friends). I got interested in sports for the first time. I did volunteer work with the Special Olympics in the area which was an extremely rewarding experience. I could really go on like this all day
I basically developed into the person I am today, all of which came into focus in the days leading up to graduation. At the time it felt like I was leaving one phase in live and moving on to something better. Which was sorta true, in a way, and sorta not true at the same time. Moving on, yes, but it’s scary out here in the adult world.
If I Had To Do It All Over Again (Part 2)
Dec 25th 2006
This was a previous question of the day, but I just thought of another thing that I’d do over again if I could. Going over to my aunts, on my father’s side, for Christmas this year got me thinking about this.
My grandmother (on my fathers side again) passed away in 2001, a couple months after I graduated. At the time, emotionally, I don’t think I was equipped to handle something like that happening. She had been in a lot of pain, so really it was probably a good thing she passed when she did, because she didn’t have to suffer anymore. I remember visiting her house after graduation because she wasn’t able to make it in my cap and gown so that she could see. Even seeing her like that was rough for me.
When she died, like I said, I don’t think that at the time I was emotionally equipped to handle something like that. I didn’t attend her funeral. To be sure…I was grieving, but, I guess I was doing it privately. Looking back on it now, one of my past regrets would be that I never attended her funeral. While I really wouldn’t want to go back and live through that again, now I wish I had done it differently. I know it may have seemed to some like I didn’t care. But…when nobody was around, I could have been described as a wreck. And to this day and, if I have anything to do with it, as long as I live, I still have the graduation card she sent me as well as the last card I received for my birthday, and I’m not one to keep cards forever. But for these two objects, I’ll make an exception. In fact, I just found them in less than 30 seconds of searching, which…given my storage system (also known as the “Pile-O-Junk”), says something I guess.
What brought this all up today was that my Aunt had made some copies of pictures of my grandfather and grandmother. My grandfather passed away when I was very little, so I never really got to know him. But seeing that picture brought back a ton of memories of going over to her house when I was young. I mentally walked myself through the entire house, remembering the fun I had there and what she was like when she was alive.
This year was the sixth Christmas where we didn’t meet at her house and where she wasn’t there. Life moves on, people continue on their way…but it never hurts to take a look back at the people who are no longer a part of our lives…at least in the physical sense.
I’m not looking for sympathy or anything by writing this or anything. It’s just something that I needed to get off my chest. And now it’s off. So I’ll stop typing. Now.
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