My Ode to BYU

"So ... do I look different now that I'm a college grad?"
"You graduated, and just a shade under a decade too ... Alright."
"You know, a lot of people go to college for seven years."
"I know. They're called doctors."

I remind my own self of that exchange from Tommy Boy (not the classiest of movies I've ever watched repeatedly). And more of it applies to me than I'm quoting here. Ahem. It's sad to think that I graduated from high school in 2001 (I wish there were a way to capitalize numbers) and graduated from college in 2009. Hello. I did miss two full years by going on a mission, but that still leaves me to explain FIVE years. What did I do with those years?

• I experimented with half a dozen hairstyles.
  
• I read bazillions of pages of literature to which I reacted both positively and negatively.
• I learned to write a decent essay.
• I met a TON of fantastic girls I'd want to be friends with forever.
  
• I met even more I hope to never encounter again ... At least not until I've developed more charity and become a far better person.
• I auditioned for Young Ambassadors out of curiosity and was humbled to the dust of the earth.
• I spent a lot of money at Wendy's during indecent hours of night and morning.
• I wrote three incredible doctrinal papers I'm very proud of.
  
• I wrote dozens of papers I'd be ashamed for anyone I want to impress to read.
• I dated numberless concourses of men and boys who were wrong for me.
• I spoke with a handful of professors, two of whom gave me advice as a person and a learner that I still think about.
• I took Italian several times. :)
• I learned to take care of my body and spirit. So my soul is more healthy these days.
• I almost failed American Heritage despite studying for hours with my crush who got an A+.
• I found the juvenile ridiculousness of using phrases like "my crush" in actual sentences.
  
• I took a sci-fi class and found the hearts behind the cloaks are actually very, very friendly.
• I attended that sci-fi class on Halloween 2004. That deserves a separate bullet point.
• I alternately gained a lost lots of weight.
• I made a conscious decision and commitment to change myself for the better.
  
• I decided I'm capable of accomplishing hard things.
• I found Eldon.
• I fell in love with Eldon.
• I married Eldon.
• I had a baby with Eldon.
• I became a woman I'm pleased to be.

Thank you, BYU, for turning a wide-eyed, big-haired, relatively vain freshman girl into a happy, healthy, confident woman. Blue will always be a happy color to me.


P.S. I decided not to walk in the ceremony, but in June when Chiara can safely leave the house I'm going to take sunny pictures with my little family while I wear Camilla's cap and gown from her graduation a year ago. :)