oh what a weekend!

Well the weekend was just as crazy as I anticipated.  All the celebrations have left me physically exhausted and in pain.  My stomach is not so happy with all the celebration food.  I think this week I will be on a strict diet of grass and Metamucil to counter act five days of eating out, although I have found some new food treasures in Des Moines.

Graduation came and flew by.  It seems unreal that I'm already done with school.  Three years!  It is a huge accomplishment for me and I can say I'm proud that I did it and did it with a lot on my plate at once.  I look back at undergrad and think about all the times I would become stressed with finals, tests, work and Brian was always there. He was there to calm me down and help me to re-focus.  I look back at the past three years and especially the past year and realize how much I have grown up, all at 25.

Luckily, I focused my attention on the positives about this weekend and kept myself composed.  At times things became hard, but for the most part it was a pretty amazing weekend.  Instead of letting my emotions of not having my biggest supporter next to me get the best of me, I focused on the people around me.  I focused on the faces that I endured a lot with the past three years and focused on the idea that most of them I would not see again.  Spending time with the friends Brian and I had in my class was what I needed to get me through.  My close friends at school are the reason my transition to finish school happened.  A few times on Saturday I felt the urge to cry but I composed myself and told myself Brian was there.  This year has been tough, but one thing I've learned, I can survive and I will survive.

With all the celebrations of my graduation my family and I's hearts were heavy.  Thursday morning my grandfather passed.  As much of an accomplishment as graduating is, it is heard to fully focus on it when your hearts ache.  Sunday morning my mom had to catch a plane to meet her brother and sister to help them out with the final arrangements.  Thankfully, they were able to make it happen so that my mom could be with us on my big day.  THANK YOU!  This makes my third family member to pass since February.  I keep telling myself the year is going to turn around...I'm still waiting for that to happen.  As I wait I just continue to remind myself to focus on the blessings in my life, which there are plenty of.

Thanks for all your support the past year!  Your encouragement also helped me succeed.  Thank you mom and dad and my sisters and my in-laws for supporting me, I appreciate everything!

P.s.  Hopefully I will become better at posting since my wonderful family was gracious enough to buy me a new laptop for graduation.  I think everyone around me was tired of listening to me complain about my old one ( I don't like to complain....but that thing drove me nuts!)  I haven't had my new computer freeze once, I have gone two days without restarting it, and all my keys work!  Thanks mom and dad!