Work/ School Balance

I know, my posting has been sporadic and I’m sure everyone is waiting to see the picture of me walking across the stage. Well, here it is.

It was quick, but it was nice. I almost cried when I was getting ready to walk. I stepped into the hotel, and everyone was cheering, “Congratulations, Grad!” I was smiling from ear to ear. I stepped into the queue to give my name, and I was handed a card with my information to pass on for when I walked. I moved into the next room and kept hearing “Congratulations, Grad!” That when I felt the tears start to come. Now, I am not a pretty cryer. I turn bright red, eyes puffy, and snot. I did not want to cry. Well, I took a few deep breaths and moved forward. These were happy tears, by the way. Four and a half years of working full-time and school, it warranted happy tears. I waited for them to call my name and I walked across that stage to cheers. I was able to look out at my mom and best friend as I smiled for the cameras. I was showed into another room where I continued to hear cheering, then was handed some free gifts (I know they aren’t free exactly, I am in debt for those four and a half years after all). I was asked if I wanted a picture with the president of the school, so why not? The entire thing, including pictures, took about a half hour, but it was worth 5 hours of driving total. I will admit, I forgot my boots that went with my dress and gown, so it was either the blue boots or crocs, so blue boots it was.

The next two days brought Ocean City Comic Con, which I go to every year. There were two big differences this year, my best friend came with me to both days, and my normal table helper was away at college. I didn’t make the sales I wanted, but I always go, and I always enjoy myself, so it’s worth it. I’ll be back again next year and hopefully better prepared. I had way too much going on and wasn’t able to be as ready as I liked.

I had a wonderful week with my friend visiting from Wales. We did touristy things, I had doctor’s appointments, I had a biopsy (fun), and we checked out the store we used to work in, and where we met. We had a game night with friends on Thursday, where he won all three games, Friday we went to minigolf with my nephew and I redeemed myself by winning. Saturday, I ended up sleeping all day because I was sick as a dog and had no voice. Sunday I had to take the long drive and take him to the airport.

After that, life kind of went back to normal. I was still sick, but getting better, and back to work on Monday, and Tuesday, my boss was out sick, and I started feeling like crap again by the end of the day. I was determined to go to church, but I ended up at the grocery store and skipping church because I didn’t want to get anyone sick. It’s a good thing I didn’t go. I tested for Flu/Covid on Wednesday morning and guess what, I had Covid. Merry Christmas to me. So I spent the day in bed. I also spent Thursday in bed. I went back to work on Friday (with a mask) because no fever at I was tired of binge watching Hart of Dixie. I’ll admit, I probably should have taken Friday off also, but I was needed and I needed to get out of the house.

Once I’m completely over being sick since I’ve been that way for a week and a half, I am going to start the next chapter of my life, applying to graduate school and finding a job related to my degree. I’m being an idiot and only applying to one graduate school, but I have my dream school and I’m going to try for there and it costs a lot to apply to grad school. So now I’m going to try and get back to my roots of writing for the next nine months. We’ll see how that goes!