That’s about all I can think of right now. Good God, that was a big piece of work! I am sorta numb, in a Peggy Lee “Is that all there is to a fire?” sort of way. I thought I would have a rush of some kind of feelings yesterday when I left class, but nothing. Just walked out of class like I always did, knowing that I wasn’t going back. I did pat Old Main on the side, and thanked it for providing such a strong roof over my head for the last four years, since most of my education took place in that building. So that’s the big let down. Somehow I feel like I should have felt something I didn’t feel. I normally go into a funk for about a week each time I finish a year, so this will be no less. I remember standing in the shower this morning thinking “I don’t have ANY classes to prepare for. No homework, no reading assignments, no more tests – shit, am I REALLY done?”

On the other hand, there is a part of me that recognizes I will miss the pressure-cooker atmosphere of intellectual stimulation I have mostly encountered at Augsburg. Without a professor to guide me and challenge me to the kind of academic rigor I’ve experienced the last four years, even the most intense of my intellectual investigations won’t be the same. But I am not going to miss the homework, the massive reading lists, the late night classes, cramming for tests over lunch hours, writing essays late into the night, and leaving my abode to go to class when I’d rather be home on a Friday night or a snowy winter weekend, cuddled up with my loves around me.

I cleaned out my sewing studio this past weekend. I have four years of quilting to catch up on, and I intend to spend many an hour doing what I have loved and missed doing for so long now.