I'm an official alum of Elon University!

After yet another night of very little sleep (did I ever actually fall asleep), I found myself sitting on my bed at 6:45am on Saturday morning - more than an hour before I had originally planned on being out the door - dressed, makeup and hair done, gown in hand. I sat there and looked at the clock, wondering what I was going to do with myself for another hour. I called my parents to ask if they could pick me up, and my dad showed up at my door no more than ten minutes later. One step outside, and my heart sank.

It was COLD!!! And drizzly. Yay.

My sunny, no rain forecast had failed me. So I went back into the house, got my signature Elon hoodie, slid it over dress, and got in the car with my dad. The school had moved our breakfast inside, and everywhere you went, people were grumbling about the weather and wondering if they would decide to brave the weather, or if Elon would move the ceremony into Alumni Gym.

What a disappointment that would be!! Not only would I have 12 disappointed family members who wouldn't have rain tickets (ok, 9 disappointed adults, three rather relieved little kids :)), but Elon students are SUPPOSED to graduate Under the Oaks! Not under the flourescent lights amidst bleachers....

But, everyone remained optimistic. Sometime during the speaker's presentation, the clouds rolled back, and the most glorious blue sky appeared. It was beautiful!!

Nothing like sitting through 1,000 names being read in the bright sunlight, receiving the famed Leo charge, and walking away from the school for the last time with a hard-earned, beautiful DIPLOMA.

Don't get me wrong, I loved my time at Elon. But I finished classes in January and have just been waiting for my college career to officially be complete. People kept asking me what it felt like to be done. And yeah, it felt GREAT. But it also felt about the same as it did when I was really done in January.

I wasn't too sad to drive away from campus for the first time. I mean, this fall I worked full time and I've been involved with an incredibly ministry in NYC since then, but God has too many incredible things in store for the next couple of years to sit here and long too hard for more time in the Elon Bubble.

Bulgaria, HERE I COME!!