I promise I would have had pictures to accompany this blog post had the weather been conducive to photography at Commencement. Instead, we were subjected to the rain and wind beneath clear ponchos while sitting on chairs that came with their own puddle in the place of a seat pad, no extra charge! Three hours later, with numb toes and soggy backsides, and hands numb from clapping, we left and trudged back to Todd Field to give a few congratulatory hugs, snap a few family photos, and begin our last year of college.
As a newly-anointed senior, Commencement harkened a mix bag of emotions. I was not alone as a junior (we aren’t officially seniors until all the diplomas are handed out) who knew more than a few seniors, so that on its own made the experience a bit sobering. Knowing that many of your friends are parting ways and embarking on new paths is exciting, but it is never easy to say goodbye.
Along with the goodbyes, Commencement marked the beginning of our own “Final Countdown.” With each Ron-Thom handshake and quiet cheering from a random section in the crowd, I was closer to entering into my final year at Puget Sound. The real world is not simply beckoning; it’s beginning to bellow. And it’s hard to ignore.
The Commencement speakers offered an assortment of advice, but none of their words impacted me more than the realization that I am now very close (symbolically and physically) to leaving a school that has been a mostly-blissful home for me the past three years. It is an emotion that is difficult to express in words; alas, as a blogger, there is little else to utilize in terms of communication methods.
Congratulations, Class of 2011. Class of 2012, let the countdown commence.