When I finished up my Master’s, the pomp and circumstance of graduation was the least exciting happening on my mind. I was just glad to be fucking done. So while grad school graduation was a departmental requirement, my stomach wasn’t filled with butterflies, I wasn’t really saying goodbye to any educational friends, and I wasn’t misty eyed over the prospect of my future.
Alright, fuck that, I was definitely a little emotionally fearful over the fork in the road that was pursuing a PhD or entering the professional arena. I had given myself that weekend to go on an alcoholic bender and just relax following one last arduous semester of teaching and research. As every undergrad and their mother threw their caps into the air, I was just glad that whatever small talk I was forcing myself through with my fellow higher learning compatriots was whittling away. My knockoff polo was itching on my neck, and my jeans were…well…jeans and uncomfortable. Perhaps I should have went through the extra effort of dressing up. That seemed to be what every undergrad did.