Fancy piece of paper

The hugest thing ever has happened, I am officially graduated from college! I officially have an Associates of Applied Sciences degree in Management Development! I have been working on this fancy piece of paper for so long now that it doesn't even seem real to me. And in 6 to 8 weeks I will actually have the fancy piece of paper with my name on it!

 Here's me and my little man and my husband. My son says the sweetest things sometimes and he told me how proud he was of me and it made me cry. In reality it's all for him anyway so I'm glad that he gets it. My husband is very thrilled about taking pictures, but I made him do it anyway.

This is me and my big sister and little brother. It really meant the world to me that they took the time out of their days to come and see me get my diploma. Or more so the holder that my diploma will go in once I actually get it in the mail. I know it's only an associates degree, but it's a huge deal to me. I really honestly never thought this day would come. After high school I went to my dream college, and I totally hated it. It left me in a tail spin, I didn't have a back up plan and I had no idea what to do next. So it was 7 years before I went back to school. By that time I had been married and divorced and had Parker and had been with my current husband a few years. I worked full time and had a mortgage and being the traditional college student was no longer an option for me.

College was hard people. No joke, trying to balance it along with everything else was really a struggle and there were so many times I wanted to quit and just give up. I am so thankful for the people that helped me along the way, I never could have done it without them.

I actually graduated 3 weeks before my last classes were actually finished. Talk about pressure, hey you already walked, but there are still 3 weeks to fuck it up. Geez! There were a few things I was worried about, one being the final portfolio that is like a huge thing. It's a graduation requirement, and there is only 1 grade for the thing. No chance to make up for a bad grade, it's one and done kind of thing. But I totally nailed it, got a perfect score on it so I was super excited about that.

The other huge thing I was super stressed about in the last few weeks was my application to business school. When I got approved to graduate in December I applied to UW Whitewater's College of Business and Economics. They are super highly accredited for their business program, like in the top 5% of the country, so the pressure was on. Even though I met all the requirements to transfer, I had this huge fear that I wasn't going to get in. Once again, I didn't have a back up plan. I had only applied to the one school so if I didn't get in then I would have to take a semester off again, and I was super terrified that it would turn into 7 years off again.

Other people really felt my stress lately, my husband took the brunt of it and I have apologized more in the last month for being cranky than I have in the 7 years we have been together. My best friend has listened to me stress about it endlessly, and I am so lucky that she is totally amazing and just kept telling me that it would all be fine and she had no doubts that I would get in.

I have turned to fitness more and more lately to get rid of my stress. I have joined an awesome studio that has a super program and the support network is so incredible it's unbelievable! Working out has become my relaxation time, it's my time for just me and no one else. I do what I have to do and it's all about me and I don't feel bad about it one bit! But that's a different story, I'll get to that later.

So this past Tuesday was the official end of my semester, I had my final group presentation and then I was officially done with all classes. Still no word from Whitewater. I checked the mail every single day and was disappointed every single day when nothing showed up. But I was also relieved that nothing showed up because it meant that I was safe for one more day from being rejected. But Tuesday night I immediately felt completely lost. I had no homework that I had to be working on. I had no class to go to, and no project that was coming due. It has been so freaking long since this has happened that I seriously started to panic. What will I do with myself, I am so used to having all these pressing matters that need to be taken care of for school and now I was just done.

Wednesday I was on break at work and I got an email.... from Whitewater, congratulating me on my acceptance. Wait, I got in? I got in! Total spoiler alert, I didn't even get the letter in the mail saying that I was accepted, and I get an email telling me how to register for classes. I almost cried in the break room. No kidding, and I don't even care. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I didn't even realize how much stress I was under waiting for this letter, but apparently it was a lot. So, I have a few weeks of no homework and no pressure and then it's right back to the grind. Now that it's a reality I'm like crap, I can't fuck this up, this is a really good school and I want a fancy piece of paper with their name on it for my bachelor's degree. So here is to a few more years of school in my future!

Now, in 6 to 8 weeks I can really be excited when I get my diploma in the mail and can be all like yay my fancy piece of paper! Guess I can lay off stalking the mail box for a few weeks now though and take it easy!