damn. it’s starting to hit me.

i’ve actually always loved school.  i enjoy learning and i’m pretty social, so school is actually a great place for me.  maybe that’s why i took 12 years to finish a degree. when i was little and my sister was in high school, she caused so much drama at home, i would escape to school.  jr high sucked though. i hated jr. high for a myriad of reasons, so we will just skip those 2 years.  high school was most definitely NOT the BEST years of my life, but i had fun and have some really great memories and friends from those 4 years.  community college at the start was just “high school with ashtrays”, then the people who i went to high school with moved on or dropped out and school became more like college.  mix in a few years of withdrawing from classes, “figuring things out”, and having a baby (in other words, trying on the “college drop-out” hat) and then i finally transferred to a 4-year university.

i’m actually surprised that i managed to go every single semester until i finished at State.  i mean come on!  i stretched the 2-year route into… 9 years and 5 schools.  SOMEHOW i managed to cram that last 2 years of the 4-year degree into 3 years and 1 school.  amazing.  it truly is amazing.

i have to give credit where credit is due though.

*stepping up to receive my Oscar*

i would not have been able to do this without the help and support of my husband, my son, my parents, and my friends (especially my next door neighbor, jeff, who helped me out this last semester with the Dictator so i could get a class i needed to graduate, and TeacherFriend who proofed my papers).  the willingness of everyone to help me with the Dictator, critique my work, pump me up when i was feeling down, and most importantly, listen to me bitch and moan about homework, really got me through these last 3 years.  it was rough at moments and at times i really wanted to give up, but no one in my life will let me get away with giving up that easily.  so, thank you all of you. </acceptance speech>

but guess what?  i already miss school.  i love the feeling of ending a semester feeling accomplished, but i also get really excited about the classes i sign up for!  this time though, no classes to look forward to.  the new semester has always given me at least 1 art class where i learn a new technique or skill, but this time… no new art class.  (ok, so really, i want to take a bookbinding class at a cc, but i don’t know if i can swing it.)

so what to do now dear readers?  have you had mixed feelings of accomplishment?  aside from getting a job, which as we all know are few and far between right now, what do you suppose i should do?

crap.  this also means i will start having to pay back student loans in 6 months.  why can’t we be like the UK and not have to pay back until we earn enough money to?  (too?)