This past week, I went to the bookstore with one of my friends (who I went to high school with), to pick up our caps and gowns for graduation. As I was handed my cap and gown, I just kind of stood there with it, feeling the weight of it in my hands. I was thinking, “This can’t be mine. It’s too early. I don’t graduate for a while.” Then, after we left the bookstore, my friend looked at me and goes “Mary, we did this four years ago.” That one statement caused my eyes to begin filling up with tears. It’s not possible; I only graduated from high school yesterday!

Picking up my cap and gown was a much more surreal experience than I thought it would be. I was holding the plastic bag my cap and gown came in in a state of shock. It didn’t seem possible that this moment had arrived. I was not prepared for the level of emotion I would experience picking up my cap and gown since I did not have the same experience in high school.

High school was a different experience when it came to graduation. I was nowhere near as sad then as I am about graduating from college now. I think it is because with high school, mostly you’re expected to go to college. Therefore, it’s not that big of a deal to go from high school to college; you’re moving from one classroom setting to another. Also, many of the members of my graduating class were staying local, attending one of the local colleges or working locally. Many of those I graduated high school with ended up going to King’s as well. At least there would be familiar faces as I started college.

However, with college, it’s completely different. This is the last time many of us graduating will be attending college. I will be going to grad school, but that still won't be the same. I am going to be teaching a class, along with going to classes for a master’s degree, so I am closer to the real world than ever before. Many of my friends are going to be starting their lives, beginning a job, moving out, paying off college loans, or going on to grad school like I am.

Holding that graduation gown with the cap in my hands was incredible, but what made it so different was the addition of the academic hood with the colors for my Bachelor of Arts degree that I will receive. It’s a sign of the blood, sweat, and tears that went into my degree. That’s the one big difference from my high school cap and gown; I have a symbol of my degree going with my graduation cap and gown this time. I get to decorate my cap for graduation. All of those ideas are running around in my head as I hold the plastic package with my graduation attire inside.

It’s amazing for me to be graduating in a little under a month. It’s been four years since I graduated high school, and as cliche as it is to say, it flew by. When my friend reminded me that we just got caps and gowns together only four years ago, I realized that I am closer to the real world than ever before. It’s a scary, crazy ride that I am just about to be closing a door on, but I am about to be starting a brand new adventure that I am excited to explore.