I'm Gradumacated!

7 years in the making.... well, 21 if you count all of 'em. And now I'm finally done! Done with school for the rest of my life! At least, I'll go ahead and think that for now. It's pretty inescapable. Continuing education is in my future, but we'll just put that aside for the time being. Let me bask in the glory of being done with PT school.

You can now call me Dr. Smith. Well, not really. Only in some states.

Gee, it's sounding less and less exciting the more I write about it! But regardless, I've been officially hooded!
Pretty sweet outfit, ey? Not hot and uncomfortable at all! Polyester at it's finest! The whole fam came down for the ceremony, including Nana and Grandpa Hap and Uncle Kevin.

It was a really nice event and I managed to tear up only twice. Okay, I bawled as soon as I got out the door and hugged my family. What can I say, it was an emotional day!

The rest of the weekend was filled with more graduation festivities, including Mike's graduation from high school and his party where he played with his band, Wojtek's graduation from UMSL and entertaining his friends who came down from Champaign, and some all around wholesome family time. We even hosted Wojtek's mom and brother from Poland, which was an adventure in and of itself. Very busy weekend!

And now it's just a waiting game before I move back to Litchfield on Sunday. I won't be leaving for Montana until July, so I'll have time to study for the board exam and save up some $$ for when I get there. I helped Wojtek get all packed up on Monday and he took off that afternoon for Denver. It was pretty sad saying goodbye, but there's always cell phones and ichat to keep in touch. I'm sure he's going to fit right in and feel at home there, and I'm happy for him!

I have to say, though, that I'm really going to miss the city. I've really grown to love parts of it in the past year. Wojtek and I had been venturing out to new places and really had gotten to know a lot of good things about St. Louis. For a while I couldn't wait to get out of the miserable weather and horrific drivers, but after finding my niche and my favorite spots, I'm finding it hard to leave. The good thing is that I know I'll be able to make the most of anyplace I go. I just never thought I'd be wanting to stay longer in this city!

But enough ramblings. I'm starting to get quite uncomfortable sitting on the only peice of furniture I have left in the apartment -- my air mattress on the floor. Okay, so it won't be that hard to leave.... ;-)