Pomp and Circumstance

I can't believe I'm almost done with school- I have this semester and then I have a practicum in the fall. That might not sound like -almost- done, but I've been in school for approximately ever. Since Wren was a tiny little baby at least, and now she's, what, like 11?

When I graduated from UT, Chase took a picture of me, wearing his hand me down robe and cap, standing by our front door. I had forgotten to sign up to walk, and had neglected to let any of my family know what day the ceremony would be on, and in fact, from the evidence of my hair in the photo, I had actually slept through the ceremony, and stumbled out of bed around noon, to ask what day it was.

I had also sat through a few UT graduations at that point (MISERABLE) and the idea of sending out graduation announcements seemed like kind of a cash grab, since we'd just solicited a bunch of free stuff when we got married. Everyone I knew was graduating or had recently graduated and it didn't seem like that big a deal.

Now though, graduating from TWU seems like a really big deal. For me it represents so much hard work, encouragement from Chase, hours spent -not- crafting, and not reading the books -I- want to read. It is months of frustration with MARC records, the OCLC, dreaded group projects, classification headings, yes, the Dewey Decimal System, and a professor teaching a purely online course who DOES NOT SPEAK ENGLISH (I'm looking at you Representation and Retrieval). Anyway, it has been challenging, to pursue this vocational program when I had so many other responsibilities. I am proud, and I am going to do something I really thought I would never do again.

I am going to Dallas.

I know I'm not done yet, and it's possible that Online Information Retrieval and Academic Libraries will kick my ass this semester and I won't, in fact, graduate until 2012. But I am planning on graduating this December, and I am totally loading up the whole family, and anyone else who is willing, and I'm going to buy the robe, and process down the aisle, and pose for -real- pictures. And then I'm going to get the gaudiest frame at Hobby Lobby and hang my diploma right next to Chase's in our closet.