12/12/15 - I crossed the stage. I graduated college. I still cannot believe it. I do remember that I cried on the way to graduation, but I'm pretty sure that was because I was hungover from the night before celebrating with my friends without realizing I had to be dressed and in line by 7:30AM. That was one of the most major accomplishments of my life, but also a turning point in my life. My entire life, all I knew was to go to school and get good grades; then once you graduate, you find a job in your field and go up from there. Someone should've wrote a book and told my ass that is NOT how it goes. (They probably did, I just never read it)
My parents were always hard on me about finding internships each summer, and I just knew for a fact that me working as a store manager at one of the few 24-hour CVS Pharmacy stores in Houston for three years would equate to a typical internship. I mean, it was a great leadership position that taught me about management, and thats what I was going to school for.... so I chucked the deuces to the thought of an internship. However, the day after I did my graduation audit and my dean told me I would not be graduating on time, I went hysterical.... How in the hell was I supposed to explain to the 200+ ppl who congratulated me and liked my FB status saying that I applied for graduation and was expecting to walk the stage in May?! I just knew I was going to work the rest of the summer, save up my money, and get ready to move to start a career. I found out I was missing three history & science credit hours and failed Finance (I would never recommend Dr. Haq) so I added a few extra electives and used them to boost my GPA as a "super senior." I don't even feel bad for calling myself that because there were students who were going on 30 still in undergrad after five and six plus consecutive years, shoutout to y'all.
The last semester was a breeze. I moved out my apartment and in with my aunt, which saved me hella money. I bought a new car a year before graduating, a good credit score, and Houston was my playground on the weekends. You couldn't tell me shit, because I thought I had it all. However, three weeks before graduation my car decided it wants to mess up and I made some dumb decisions behind my warranty and insurance options for fixing that, so I pretty much gave up on my car and just kept getting rentals until graduation, expecting my parents to come to Texas for my graduation with car keys in their hands as my gift.... got my ass again lol. I made my decisions as an adult, and dealt with what I had.
So, here I am... on graduation day, celebrating with my family and friends. I hadn't put much thought into where I'd end up the week after graduating. Was I going to stay in Texas where I lived my life that past 5 years? Or was I going home to Kansas City? I had no job, no car, a nice chunk of change in my account, and a few grad gifts. I just needed a peaceful transition.... so, I chose KC.