Happy Birthday, Mom!

My mom's birthday was May 6th. Between finals, papers, and a nasty computer virus I was unable to write her one on time. And then between graduation, parents flying in, and an awesome vacation I am only now starting it. Sorry mom!

Here is my mom:

(she's the one on the left...not wearing a tuxedo).

Basically, my mom is the best. She is quirky beyond belief, she loves to spoil her grandchildren (and children), and she is very creative. As a kid I went on so many adventures with my family thanks to my mom. She loves to hike, boat, explore places, etc. She was always very supportive of us kids trying to find our identities. She never said no to any hair dye or style that we wanted to try. In fact, I remember the first time I wanted to dye my hair, I told my mom I wanted a new color and she emphatically said, "OOH! Like PURPLE?" uh...no. It's always been fun when mom's around.

My mom is very selfless. I called her at unruly hours of the night and/or morning when I was having a crisis at school and she never once complained. She has given approximately 10,000,000 back scratches and foot rubs. She's like a personal spa!

She is very hard working at all she does. She went back to school in her 40's to become a nurse. She has gone to various classes to learn new skills. She's the best.

Happy very late birthday, Mom! Thanks for having me! :)

Heeeeere we go!

Ok, I have so much to blog about, it's not even funny. I'm a little overwhelmed by all the posts that I need to write, so bear with me. I'm just going to start from the beginning and work my way forward. Stay tuned!

Identity Crisis

Tomorrow is my last day of school. ever. I'm talking about for the rest of my life. And that is weirder than weird.

My entire life I have never EVER liked school. I was the kid (and college student)who always stared at the clock in every period, waiting to go home. I never had a summer break where I was excited to go back to school. Usually the beginning of each school year was met with sheer dread. School has never been good.

And here I am, practically hours away from being done with school for the rest of my life...and I'm sad.

Am I going to miss lectures, homework, paying ridiculous amounts of money on books that I read twice in the semester? Uh...no. Not. One. Bit. What I am going to miss is being a student. Since Fall of 1991 I have never NOT been a student. I never took a semester off to work, didn't go on a mission, didn't take time off to find myself. Aside from summer breaks I have always been in school. It's all I know. Career? Isn't that what old people get? I always thought I was YEARS away from that.

Suddenly I feel old and boring. Whenever I hear about people in college, that will simply be something I did once long ago. Even though I certainly WON'T miss school, I WILL miss being a student.