"congratulations!" "thaaaaaanks."

I walked today. It was graduation day. I graduated. Of course, I graduated months ago, but cruel life forced me to relive it again. And relive it I did. Funny thing is, it wasn't nearly so hard to graduate for real as it was for fake.

As the tears came today, I realized how very much I was grateful for those tears. The tears proved to me that it was real...that the bonds I formed are true, and that I will never be the same because of these past 4 years. Those are my sisters, my brothers. They are the ones with whom I have lived, laughed, loved, and learned. They are the ones who were with me as I found myself, as I found my calling, and as I became a woman rather than a child. They are the ones who understand me the best because they watched me change and understand the forces that brought that change. They are the ones with whom I cried, with whom I grieved, and with whom I made agonizingly hard decisions. They are the ones with whom I plotted, with whom I pranked, and with whom I Christmas caroled in August. They are the ones who stood by me in my best and in my worst, in the good times, and in the bad times. We became one sometime along the way, and today was incredibly painful as a result of this wonderful fact.

I found my calling at Northwestern. I found my passions and I pursued them. I found myself. And yet, it is the friendships that I formed - indeed, the family I gained, that is what I most treasure about my Northwestern experience.

Today I cried. And I am so grateful that I did.