{in high school the name-reader just SKIPPED my name so i stood awkwardly on the stage not sure what to do and i could feel the thousands of parents' eyes watching my face turn red...so naturally my eyes started to well up in panic...thankfully a trustee on stage was all "psst, what's your name?" and then said trustee whispered my name to the reader, who announced it, completely out of alphabetical order and very obvious to everyone. or so i assumed, in my flustered, semi-crying state.}
but back to arcadia's graduation.
even though it P O U R E D rain the whole day, i was elated. i didn't end up with the same blue-sky backdrop other grads may have gotten on their special day, but whateverrrr!
the front of my dress and my flats got soaked on my run-trot from the car to the gym, but they quickly dried in the stifling heat of a room packed with excited graduates, pinning caps on and snapping selfies.
finally the moment came to process in, and i crowd-scanned to find my beaming parents and husband. us graduates sat, stood, sang the national anthem, and listened to the writer of the magic school bus and reading rainbow talk about joy {and how that doesn't come from monetary success!}.
when it came time to award the diplomas, i stood with arcadia's college of arts and sciences, and i chuckled as the reader announced my name as "julia" (it's just julie, folks). who cares? at least my name was called this time!
afterwards, i wove through the heaping mess of grads and parents to find my grandmother, siblings, and in-laws who had watched the graduation from a "simulcast location," and we took a million pictures, standing in some random corner of the building i graduated in. but again, who cares? i rocked my phi kappa phi tassel and was giving the cheesiest grins because i had just graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of arts in english.
{devin was all "i deserve a graduation too" and then he stole my cap. but honestly, i wouldn't have done so well without him. he was so encouraging throughout this whoooole degree-earning thing, even when i was taking 22 credits and ready to stop putting any effort into my classes because I was stressed outta my mind! but i/we did it! haha}
thank you, Jesus, for getting me through!
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