FREEDOM!!!!

Yes, you read that right. Freedom. From what, you may ask? Well... Freedom from writing papers, freedom from being told what to read, freedom from stress about whether or not I'll pass a test, freedom from paying a lot of money every few months for school, freedom from always thinking about what's due the next day...you get the idea. I am done with school! My last final was Wednesday night, and I did pretty well on it if I do say so myself. I am so happy to be finished. I'm not trying to rag on BYU though, with that list above, I love BYU and I think it's a great university and it's helped me a lot in life. I am just over the moon to be done. It was kind of weird because I had a lot going on this week (finals, papers, presentations, work) that everything kind of slipped by without much thought. Usually when a big part of my life is over, I like to muse about it and celebrate it. We did get taken out to Cafe Rio on Wednesday to celebrate, so that was fun. I think I'd like to write about what my time at BYU has meant to me. Warning, this may become cheesy.
First of all, when I came to BYU, it was the first time I had ever moved in my life. That's right, I had never lived anywhere else but my parents home. And, I was so excited to get out of Kearney that it wasn't a big traumatic move, but I think that is significant. I went somewhere a thousand miles away where I didn't know anyone. That was fun.
I also learned a lot about the nature of learning. I'll be the first to admit that I was not the best studier, or that I did 110% on each and every assignment. In reality it was far from that, but I've found out that there are things out there that I am passionate about and that I would be interested in learning about for the rest of my life. BYU really promotes lifelong learning, and I totally see what they mean. I know it took me a little longer than normal to graduate (almost 5 years) because it took me a long time to decide on a major, but I don't think any of my time that I spent here was a waste at all. It was all valuable because it provided me experiences.
At BYU, I learned a lot about love. I know that sounds so lame, but it's true. And, I'm not just saying that because I met my husband there, but rather, I learned a lot about love in friendships,finding love, loving yourself, and loving the Lord. I don't think I could have grown as much as I have anywhere else. I had a LOT of hard times at BYU, a lot of pain and struggles.Struggles over grades, classes, relationships, deciding on a major, friendships, jobs, trying to figure out what tod with my life, and things of that nature. Most of them were probably because of my own stupid actions, but it all helped me become a better person.
I made so many great friends at BYU. Friends that I will have for life. Most of these friends came from people I lived with or people that I worked with, but there's just something about going through the same things together with a group of people that will keep you friends forever. I can't even list them all because so many people have touched my life. It makes me excited to think of all of my friends here and where we'll all end up in the world. I hope we'll be spread out all over so we can always go to visit each other. Anyone is always welcome to stay at our place, wherever we end up.
And of course, I met Eli here. I've always said, even before I met Eli, that I'm certain I only got into BYU because of inspiration on the part of the admissions board. I'm not like a lot of BYU students, academically or ambitiously, but I know this was where I was supposed to be. I can't believe the way things worked out while i was here and how I came to meet Eli and we got married. I'm very lucky to have him. I'm also kind of glad that he still has a year of school here because I like BYU and I like Provo.
Well, this is getting lengthy. If anyone wants to come to graduation, it's on August 14-15. I'm excited. If you come we'll have a party.