I Did It!

I graduated from college. Holy cow, I can't believe I'm done!! I'm just so happy. Mitch is so sweet and brought me purple and white roses (for WSU) and The Chicago Manual of Style, just what every writer/editor needs. :)
My family was so sweet and came to the (boring, but nice) graduation ceremony. We went to dinner after at T.G.I.Fridays. It was a great celebration. Thanks so much Mom and Dad, Grandma's and Grandpa's, Kevin and Kathy, and Hubby for supporting me.

As I was pondering my graduation and what it took to get there, I had a few thoughts. First, I can't believe I finished in exactly four years. That's great considering I switched my major twice. (Secondary education to Social Work to Technical Writing.) Second, there are three things in my life I'll never ever regret:
1. Serving a mission
2. Marrying Mitch
3. Getting my degree
All three things kinda go together. If I hadn't gone to Weber, I wouldn't have met Mitch. If I hadn't gone on a mission, I wouldn't have married Mitch (long story for another day). My mission made me a better student and gave me the self-confidence I needed to do well in school. And marrying Mitch was the best decision ever because he makes me so happy. So, I'm glad I did these things and I am thankful for the opportunities. School was hard at times, but it's worth it. WSU is a great school and I had some awesome, (and some crappy, but mostly awesome) professors.
So what now? How will I fill my endless hours of free time? Honestly, I don't quite know. (I thought about a Master's. That thought went as quickly as it came. First off, there isn't a technical writing Master's program in Utah. Second off, I'm done with school ... forever.) So for now, I'm going to stay at my current job and try some freelance editing jobs on the side. My ultimate career goal is to work from home on freelance jobs, sometimes traveling around the country to meet with executives and write/edit their documents. That would be awesome.
In the mean time, I have some other goals I want to do now that I have time.

• Finally learn to play the drums
• Run another 1/2 marathon - Salt Lake 1/2 in April
• Read books, books, and more books!
• Visit London, the Baltics, Sweden, Germany, France, Switzerland, and Moscow (someday)

Honestly, I'm just glad that I'm no longer stressed about school. Ahhhhh, what a great sense of accomplishment (and relief)! No more homework, no more finals, no more night classes, no more crazy-know-it-all professors, no more group projects, no more 10 page proposals, no more XML, no more stupid text books, no more, no more, no more!!!