Officially a graduate nurse.

The big day has come and gone! I graduated from the University of Connecticut with a bachelor's degree in nursing! I sat there during the ceremony in complete disbelief about what was actually happening.

I stuffed tissues into my dress before the ceremony because I thought I was going to cry. I did well and didn't end up needing them. I did slightly tear up when our class president spoke and said "This is it! We did it! Congrats Class of 2009!" And again when we moved our tassels from the right to the left. However, I cried a lot in the week before graduation because I was so sad that my grandpa never was able to see me graduate. He was such a supporter and died suddenly in February. Here is a cute picture of me and him from a LONG time ago...
He was such an amazing person and I miss him so much. I am still in shock that he died. He was recovering from surgery in a nursing home and then on a Saturday he came down with the flu along with everyone else in the nursing home (and my dad, cousin, and a few uncles who had just visited) He died on Monday only about 10 minutes after my uncle left him. It was unbelievable devastating and I am actually feeling tears coming on now. He had a wonderful service and I was a pallbearer. He was buried next to my dad's mother (who died before I was born) in the veteran section of our cemetery.

Anyway, on a lighter note, nine other members of my friends and family were able to come to my graduation. It was a lot of fun and even though the keynote speaker spoke about tapestries and parallels to nursing for 45 minutes, it was a great ceremony. I was very anxious about walking across the stage and my heart was racing the whole time! I talked to the guy sitting next to me and he was feeling the exact same thing. Afterwards, other people told me they felt it too! It was a universal anxiety. Here is me coming down off the stage after getting my (empty) diploma case.I was so scared I was going to fall in front of everyone! My favorite part of the whole ceremony was our class president speaking. She briefly described each of our four years at school and it was quite funny! Lots of memories! I am going to miss it so much!!
Here I am after it was all over!
And to sum up the whole college experience, and just because I LOVED my dress, here is a picture of me in my graduation dress by a rock on campus that is constantly being painted...