The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We are coming into the home stretch now. Soon, the school will be buzzing with talk about classes for next semester, Thanksgiving vacation, the campus tree lighting finally Christmas break. Normally, Christmas is the time that students count down until. 

Not me.

I like the countdown until registration day. My idea of a good time is flipping through the course catalog and arranging different course combinations for upcoming semesters. The saddest moment is when the schedule is finalized and there are no more decisions to be made. On October 22, I will plan my final semester of classes. My final semester here at Albertus Magnus College will be boiled down to 17.5 credits. My role as a n Executive Founding member of the Student Alumni Association will run out in January and I will be reduced to a general member. I have always been an executive member; I just wish it did not have to end. 

Before you know it, May will be upon us and I will be relieved of my Resident Assistant responsibilities. What will I do without them? Well...to be honest, I will probably sleep a lot better at night, but I will miss the job. My purpose is to serve as an RA. How can I just relinquish that job?

Graduation will come and then I will really be lost. Planning for my final semester is a bittersweet moment. I have been waiting and working towards this for four long, hard years, but I just wish it had not come so soon. Everything is here.

I am most upset about graduating this year and not last year because my older sister (who has already done the big ceremony from NYU thing) is basically stealing my Graduation Day from me. No, that was not her intent when she began her Graduate program, but that is how it feels. She went to NYU. My parents watched her walk across the stage of Radio City Music Hall and receive her "diploma". We all watched from the stands of Yankee Stadium as they graduated the different schools. It was impressive and she had most of our family there. We were proud of her; we are still proud of her - but I just wish that I could have that moment to myself this May.

My family now has to split and decide who will see what graduation. The most important people in my family will all be at mine: mommy, daddy, Gabrielle, Jonathan, Aunt Mary Anne. I really want the whole family there: Uncle Michael, Nicole, Aunt Kristine, Angela, Joseph, Poppa, Rachel and Warren.

The list could go on.

Registration is a magically philosophical time for me and I plan to enjoy my last one. 

My impending college graduation is the most important day of my life. I did not plan on going to college, when I was younger and naive. Now, I am preparing to graduate from college and I deserve to have my whole family there. I deserve to have my own graduation day, just for me and me alone, just like Miss NYU had. 

Did I not earn the same respect for my achievements as Rachel did?