Saturday, May 14, 2011

134/365

THESE ARE DAYS...
Lizzie graduated from Penn State today... it seems like these past four years just flew by... taking her up to visit the college - moving her in and out of all the places she called "home" while she was there... Wow - I can't believe she's ready to leave.

Her years flew by - just like mine did...
My diploma and some other things were all in a drawer here. I graduated from Penn State 18 years ago tomorrow. In a way I'm kind of in the same place as her. I don't know what I'm going to do - where I'm going to work, where I'm going to live... I probably need a new car soon... I have to leave a life that I knew. And I have to manage how to care for my dog and some family members and have to figure out how to build my own family... normal things, really. Just many years apart. It's no different, too, than if my husband died or if I was a stay at home mom and now my children are starting school and I'm going to work now... That's a whole different story, I guess - one I don't feel like going into right now.

Chrissy and I were trying to figure out where they should go to eat while they were up there... I remember my Graduation and going out after... my mother's arm was in a cast - the bone cancer had started progressing by that time. After all those trips and visits back and forth she always said she just wanted to live long enough to see me graduate - luckily she did. The place we went to after graduation - The Eutaw House is now closed and for sale. The thought actually crossed my mind that it would be neat to buy it and open it up - not really knowing anything about the restaurant / inn business, I think it's a little more than I can handle right now. ;-) I would move up there in a minute, though. It definitely holds a lot of good memories.

There was a shop in town - The Nittany Quill - that I would go to all the time. To this day I can close my eyes and walk through there and know exactly where everything is. Not much has changed in all this time. I could always find the perfect card in there... I don't know how many gifts we brought from that place. David had a giant piece hand done for our wedding from there and they added to this one he made for me for graduation - all the people, places and things from our days at Penn State.
I don't really have a good picture of this on my laptop but every time I see it it always makes me smile...

I congratulated Lizzie today and she texted me and said they pronounced her name wrong - another memory she can add to her collection of her days there... and as she and her friends are out celebrating tonight and hugging each other goodbye and talking about all those memories, I'm right there with her - remembering mine.

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