Teary Saturday

Saturday, May 8 was a busy day for me. It began with an early morning drive to Tuscaloosa to watch some of my sweet friends graduate and ended with a drive back to Birmingham to see my cousin presented at her sophomore candlelight ball. To say that tears were cried would be a bit of an understatement. Just typing this now has me a bit teary, but the events of the day are some that I don't want to forget...so I will be sharing.

If you've read my blog for any length of time, you've heard of Miss Sarah Beth. She has been one of my favorite people since the first time I saw her and even though I knew the graduation ceremony would be 2+ hours, I knew it was something that I couldn't miss. I was impressed with my abilities to hold in the tears as they called out her name and she walked across the stage. Not so impressive was the sob fest that followed soon after when the band began playing the Alma Mater. It gets me every time.

I can't believe that I graduated from college three years ago. Sometimes I feel like it's been longer than that...other times I feel like it was yesterday. I clearly remember those feelings I had when I graduated. I used to think that college was the end all be all. You hear all your life that the most fun you have is in college. I'm not going to say that it wasn't a wonderful four years, but I also think it's important to point out---especially to those that are closing the chapter on the college experience---that the end of college is not the end of life. It is the beginning of something else. Yes, it will be different. There will be times where your bank account doesn't have as much money in it as you'd like. There will be times where you would gladly trade in your office days for a day of class, pool time, homework and an evening with your friends. But there will also be wonderful things too....like when you have the money to buy something you've wanted for so long, or the days when work doesn't seem like work at all. Then there are the fun blessings of marrying off your best friend to the man of her dreams and then later visiting her at the hospital to hold her precious baby. College is wonderful...but life after college isn't too bad either!

After graduation, I got myself back in the car and drove to Birmingham to see my cousin, Allison, before she left for her candlelight ball. She has been planning for this ball for months and when she asked me a few weeks ago if I would come, I was beyond excited. I just love my sweet cousin and her friends and it was extra fun to see them all dressed up. We won't talk about the part of the evening when she was presented and I started tearing up. Nope. We wont talk about that.