Here's to her loyola sons and daughters, here's to her warriors true; drink to the friends of Alma Mater, Loyola U.

Sometimes I struggle with posting blogs because there are so many things buzzing around in my head that it's difficult to hone it down to one specific subject. Today I think I'll write about endings. Which of course leads me to write about beginnings. And then there are the inevitable middles. Right. Read at your own risk...I don't know where I'm going with any of this.

Today was my last day of undergraduate classes at Loyola University New Orleans, a place that I never dreamed I'd ever call home. I tried everything in my might to get out there, get out of here, get to some place of my own. I had no idea Loyola was...is...my own, my little corner of the world. When I finally relented and began there, I went in with this audacity and fierce desire to change it. Ha. While I know I left my footprint there, the real change that occurred was in me. I think it all sort of hit me today while I revelled in my puddle of emotion.

I am not the same girl I was four years ago. I have learned so much...how to listen, how to speak up, how to bat around ideas, how to let those ideas fill you and motivate and move you, how to be passionate about something and fully give into it, how to ask questions, how not to settle. I've learned that I cannot and will not ever understand people, but that's not my job. It is my job to simply love them indescriminately. I've learned that what we think we know is usually what we understand the least. And what I've learned most is that there's still so much I've yet to learn.

I don't feel ready to walk across a stage and shake hands and take a diploma. I don't feel old enough or prepared enough to leave my little cocoon...but I suppose if we all waited until we felt ready to do something, nothing would ever get done. Graduate school scares me. Not being a Loyola student scares me. Life scares me. But I'm ready, whether I feel it or not. And I can't deny that Loyola, Iggy, my professors, the Marquette ghost, and even the Uptown Masturbator have all contributed to this readiness (yeah, it's a Loyola thing). So thanks.