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remembering and reflecting
May. 15th, 2006 09:24 pmOne year ago yesterday I graduated from St. Mary's College with a degree in history and a concentration in Africa and the African Diaspora. It was a perfect day, clear and sunny and warm. I wandered around afterwards in my cap and gown and bare feet and hung out with my professors, esp. Professor Holden who was my SMP advisor. My family and I packed up my dorm room for the last time and we went out to IHOP for lunch, which was significant because that's where we went out to lunch when I first went off to school. I couldn't even decide what I wanted to eat because my brain was just so overwhelmed by moving away from home for the first time.
I went back down to St. Mary's for graduation last weekend with Christine. That was only the third time I've been down to St. Mary's since I graduated, the other two times being the Special Olympics regatta last summer and Coleen and Tom's wedding last fall. On the way down Christine and I talked about all that we've done in the past year. For her that has been pro-life organizing and volunteering at a crisis pregnancy center. For me that can be summed up in one word, Katrina. I haven't had a chance to miss college life. Sure I miss being able to run during the middle of the day, or sleep in until noon, or hang out with friends over a 2 hour dinner in the Great Room. Sure I miss living down by the water and discussing the minutiae of American slave systems with my professors. Sure I miss nearly unlimited free time and the laid-back lifestyle of a college student, but I love what I'm doing now. Somehow I was lucky enough to fall into the perfect job within months of graduation, one where I'm constantly challenged and inspired and able to make use of what I learned as a history major even if the only history I've needed to know is the history of major hurricanes.
I wouldn't have given up this past year for anything. I can't wait to see what the next year will bring.
On that note, hurricane season 2006 is only 17 days away, and I heard at tonight's Emergency Services meeting that they've already found the first tropical depression in the Atlantic. Apparently the hurricanes don't realize that hurricane season isn't supposed to start yet.
~Bethany
I went back down to St. Mary's for graduation last weekend with Christine. That was only the third time I've been down to St. Mary's since I graduated, the other two times being the Special Olympics regatta last summer and Coleen and Tom's wedding last fall. On the way down Christine and I talked about all that we've done in the past year. For her that has been pro-life organizing and volunteering at a crisis pregnancy center. For me that can be summed up in one word, Katrina. I haven't had a chance to miss college life. Sure I miss being able to run during the middle of the day, or sleep in until noon, or hang out with friends over a 2 hour dinner in the Great Room. Sure I miss living down by the water and discussing the minutiae of American slave systems with my professors. Sure I miss nearly unlimited free time and the laid-back lifestyle of a college student, but I love what I'm doing now. Somehow I was lucky enough to fall into the perfect job within months of graduation, one where I'm constantly challenged and inspired and able to make use of what I learned as a history major even if the only history I've needed to know is the history of major hurricanes.
I wouldn't have given up this past year for anything. I can't wait to see what the next year will bring.
On that note, hurricane season 2006 is only 17 days away, and I heard at tonight's Emergency Services meeting that they've already found the first tropical depression in the Atlantic. Apparently the hurricanes don't realize that hurricane season isn't supposed to start yet.
~Bethany
