Valley Forge, dear Valley Forge, Class of 2010.
So as of yesterday, a little after 4 o'clock, I am officially a graduate of Valley Forge Christian College with a Bachelor of Arts in Theological Studies.
It's almost surreal to think that it's all done!
And now I'm all moved into my new apartment here on campus. Tomorrow morning I'm making Mother's Day cards and talking about Mary with my Sunday School class. And Monday morning I will be showing up at Harrup Hall for my first day of work. I'm very grateful that I got this summer job here on campus, and the apartment is amazing--but it is sort of anti-climatic to graduate and just move to another part of campus! Ha! But it's a fine transition. And I am very excited for it.
I went shopping for groceries today. For this first time ever officialy, you could say. I've bought groceries before, of course. For my family, for my dorm, for my apartment with Christine last year... but I never went to the grocery store with the thought in mind of, "Okay, this is all what I'm going to eat for the week!"
Then I came home and made my first meal here. A yummy pepper ham sandwich with muenster and tomato on wheat with an iced chai. Delicious!
And tonight I shall watch Betty White hosting SNL with musical guest Jay Z. What a good day.
I really miss Philip. He and Nathan left today after helping me move some of my heavier items into my apartment. It was a great weekend between his family and mine, it was so cool having them meet for the first time! And they seemed to really get along too. I'm so pleased with that. He's really been a great boyfriend to me. Even still, I'm nervous for the summer. I'm scared to be without him! I'm nervous we'll grow apart for some reason or another... But here's praying we'll stay strong.
I never really talked about it online (except for one brief FB update) but I was asked to speak at Baccalaureate on graduation day. The professors pick two students from the graduating class to speak, and I was one of them! My friend Cherisse was the other student chosen, and she, our class advisor Peter, and I were asked to speak on the topic "Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow." Early on, we decided to switch the order and make it future-present-past instead. My topic was yesterday/past, and I was surprising nervous. I had known what I wanted to speak about for quite some time, and felt very confident about what I had prepared, but that didn't change the fact that I was nervous with a cold.
But when I got up to speak, in front of all my friends in the graduating class and their family, I felt okay. I felt great. I started speaking and the speech went over perfectly. I can't think of a thing I'd do differently (other than botching a preacher's name I referenced! Oops!). But I just felt really good about it. And the chapel was so attentive. The graduates responded to jokes and the important statements. My mom, of course, got tearing up on me. :) But most of all, I think God really calmed some nerves in that room and comforted people's hearts about the future. It was a really good experience. It felt like all my education and experience came together in that speech. And I'm really thankful to God for the experience. Cherisse and Peter were tops too, we all aced it!
Ah well. I think I shall unpack some more in preparation for SNL tonight. Hurray!