I Graduate This Month?!

Happy June to everyone! The summer months are finally upon us, and my favorite holiday weekend has just ended. Memorial Day weekend is the time when we should all stop and thank the ones who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom and the ones who are fighting everyday to preserve that freedom. Memorial Day also marks the unofficial beginning of summer. M informed me that the Garden State Parkway was backed up 75 miles on Friday night. Yes, summer and the Bennys are finally here. For the last two years, I have spent my Memorial Days in Ohio, and I have always felt the pangs of homesickness around the end of May. My hometown is a pretty good place to inhabit during that time. In high school, we would go to the beach, our pool would be opened, Dad would cook up an awesome barbeque, and we would participate in the parade. I was in Ohio once again this past weekend, but my time was spent having a whole lot of fun with a crazy bunch of people. It was truly a perfect weekend.

My roommate N invited us all to her home on Sunday, and my roommates and I traveled the forty-five minutes to Thornville, Oh. I love visiting the places where my roommates grew up. I feel like I know more about them if I see their homes, high schools, and local hot spots. We arrived at her house in the late morning where a great breakfast and a Great Dane the size of a horse greeted us. My jaw dropped when the dog came walking out of the room. I could have ridden this animal around the house! After breakfast, we took the boat out to Buckeye Lake. If you have never been and you’re in the area, go to Buckeye Lake. It was a gorgeous day and so much fun! The water was a perfect temperature, and the girls and I went tubing and sunning all day long – and I didn’t burn! We stopped at local eateries that we had always heard of but never attended. Papa Boos was one of these spots, and we enjoyed yummy food, drank cold daiquiris and pina colodas, and people-watched the colorful crowd. Summer had truly sprung on Sunday. Given the chance, I would go back every weekend. I can’t believe I have no more weekends to spare in Columbus – our yearly roommate reunions must be spent on Buckeye Lake.

We were then sent spiriling back into reality as we left N’s house yesterday morning. Summer is not quite here yet, and school is not quite over. I have two more days of classes as an undergraduate. I wonder if it would be inappropriate for me to throw my notebooks and papers in the air when I get out of class at 1:18 on Thursday? I have two final exams next week, and that will mark my official end to college. I have been calling this entire experience surreal since I began blogging, and it is still surreal. I have a bin sitting in the middle of my bedroom floor waiting to be filled with the essentials in my dresser and on my desk. I can officially say to M and my family that I will see them all next week. I received my first graduation card last night. This is actually happening. I have to make sure I look around and smell the flowers a lot in the next twelve days, because I won’t be smelling them again for a long time.