The Road It Took to Get Here

In the fall of 2004, I stepped onto the VCU campus as a freshman.  Two weeks ago, May 12, 2012, I walked across the stage in the Siegel Center as a graduate.  If you’re doing the math, the answer is yes.  That’s eight years for my undergraduate degree.  I laugh about that little fact and the thought that most of the people I graduated with were 14 when I first started college.  But somewhere between placing my cap and gown in the car next to Ian and making the drive downtown for commencement, my mind rolled over the memories of the last eight years and to be honest, I can’t believe it was only 8 years.  A lot has happened in that time.

Those first few months at VCU were dark and lonely for me.  I regretted my decision to stay in Richmond as I found myself alone and without any close friends.  Little did I know that some of the greatest friendships of my life were just around the corner.  I questioned everything I thought I knew about God and began searching for answers.   Throughout a series of months of sitting in my car, reading scripture and asking questions, I came to a real belief in and intimate relationship with the Creator.  Sitting here today, I realize that those months weren’t just about preparing me for college, but were preparing me for everything that happened after that.

With the blessing of an incredible job that I loved, school slowed down a bit.  Some semesters were full-time, many were part-time, and I even took a couple of semesters off (to do things like adjust to marriage or have a baby).  Somewhere in that time I started dating BJ, we got married and two years later we had Ian.  Eventually we made the difficult decision to quit our jobs, move in with my parents and focus on both finishing school.  Now I am done with undergrad and BJ will graduate in December.  Grad school starts in the fall and while it is still more school, it definitely represents a new chapter.  It would take too long to really write about life since August 2004, so here’s the quick run-down. 

In the past 8 years, I have…questioned my faith, found my Creator...developed life-changing relationships, experienced the loss of some of those relationships...spent 5 years in an incredible job that taught me about people, responsibility, organization, ministry, and God...bought my first car, totaled my car....experienced heart-ache from the wrong guy, met the right guy and learned what it actually meant to love someone...got engaged, got married and moved out of my parents house...built relationships with amazing middle and high school students, watched these students grow up and leave for college - some of whom are now graduating and getting married themselves…flew on a plane for the first time, traveled outside of the country for the first time...along with BJ, stepped away from our jobs and moved back in with my parents...experienced pregnancy, had a beautiful baby and became a mother...and learned a lot of things the hard way.

So while I laugh at the eight years it took for me to get this degree, I am amazed at how much as happened in just eight years.  I am so grateful for each of those experiences, even the hard ones, and I’m continuing to learn from the lessons they taught me.

It was a beautiful eight years.