Why O, why not grant me a wok and a spoon?
Yesterday I made the Dean's List at University. I was surprised and pleased by this development, and rushed to tell my relatives and everyone else interested. I was greeted with many hearty congratulations and applauses, and told how proud everyone was of me.
This revelation got me thinking about my last year at university, and my upcoming graduation in Spring 2012. Hopefully, when I do graduate, I will have already received confirmation of acceptance to Simon Fraser University, and can move into the Graduate Student housing at SFU in the fall. If not, I can find a modest apartment in Vancouver.
Either way, I will be requiring dishes, cutlery, and kitchen accessories. I was thinking over what I would like to have in my very first home where I would be totally alone, and I got to thinking about weddings, how brides and grooms usually have the pleasure of receiving a plethora of new instruments for household use. It got me thinking: Why do we have bridal registries, but the idea of a college graduation registry hasn't caught on yet?
After all, consider this: Most people these days who end up getting married usually have lived together for a few years before they settle into marriage. They usually have everything they need accumulated over years of sharing a house and living together, cleaning house together, and cooking together.
College students, however, do not have the pleasure of such an investment being made on their behalf. When we graduate, usually $10,000 deep in debt, exhausted, and now, more and more, with fewer prospects of permanent employment dangling in front of us, we should have the blessing of someone giving us a bit of a head start in life.
Now, I know what you are thinking. You're saying, "But Leah, parents have already given up so much for their children by putting them through college! Why should we shell out more for them?" My answer to that is: In my view, graduating from college is now officially a greater celebration than a wedding. Think about it. A wedding used to mean the unifying of two families along with two individuals. It was a community celebration of epic proportions. It brought together communities and families, as well as individuals. Nowadays, weddings are considerably more lavish and expensive, but the community element has evaporated. And most marriages (At least in the United States) will not last. If you are not a member of an institution like the Catholic Church or in a conservative country/town/state/province, a divorce is easy to obtain. Plus, a wedding is not something which takes serious years of study, hard work, and dedication, unless you are into that type of thing. A college degree takes 4+ years of commitment, and you (hopefully) have to be focused and enthusiastic about what you are doing. Graduating from college is a sign of achievement and character you simply do not get from a wedding, which only requires two people signing a marriage certificate and two witnesses.
With all that in mind, I'm hoping that for graduation in Spring 2012, my dear Mommy and relatives give me a trip to Macy's, or a debit card with $20,000 on it for an import shop or Etsy. Girl can dream, can't she?
This revelation got me thinking about my last year at university, and my upcoming graduation in Spring 2012. Hopefully, when I do graduate, I will have already received confirmation of acceptance to Simon Fraser University, and can move into the Graduate Student housing at SFU in the fall. If not, I can find a modest apartment in Vancouver.
Either way, I will be requiring dishes, cutlery, and kitchen accessories. I was thinking over what I would like to have in my very first home where I would be totally alone, and I got to thinking about weddings, how brides and grooms usually have the pleasure of receiving a plethora of new instruments for household use. It got me thinking: Why do we have bridal registries, but the idea of a college graduation registry hasn't caught on yet?
After all, consider this: Most people these days who end up getting married usually have lived together for a few years before they settle into marriage. They usually have everything they need accumulated over years of sharing a house and living together, cleaning house together, and cooking together.
College students, however, do not have the pleasure of such an investment being made on their behalf. When we graduate, usually $10,000 deep in debt, exhausted, and now, more and more, with fewer prospects of permanent employment dangling in front of us, we should have the blessing of someone giving us a bit of a head start in life.
Now, I know what you are thinking. You're saying, "But Leah, parents have already given up so much for their children by putting them through college! Why should we shell out more for them?" My answer to that is: In my view, graduating from college is now officially a greater celebration than a wedding. Think about it. A wedding used to mean the unifying of two families along with two individuals. It was a community celebration of epic proportions. It brought together communities and families, as well as individuals. Nowadays, weddings are considerably more lavish and expensive, but the community element has evaporated. And most marriages (At least in the United States) will not last. If you are not a member of an institution like the Catholic Church or in a conservative country/town/state/province, a divorce is easy to obtain. Plus, a wedding is not something which takes serious years of study, hard work, and dedication, unless you are into that type of thing. A college degree takes 4+ years of commitment, and you (hopefully) have to be focused and enthusiastic about what you are doing. Graduating from college is a sign of achievement and character you simply do not get from a wedding, which only requires two people signing a marriage certificate and two witnesses.
With all that in mind, I'm hoping that for graduation in Spring 2012, my dear Mommy and relatives give me a trip to Macy's, or a debit card with $20,000 on it for an import shop or Etsy. Girl can dream, can't she?