First Week

I once watched a program about Queen Elizabeth II on PBS, telling the story of her reign. In the part of the program narrating her coronation, the narrator says that Elizabeth’s father told her that once she was crowned, she would be changed forever.

Well, receiving a college degree is nothing like receiving a royal crown, but I felt the sentiments behind that statement when I awoke on the morning of Monday, May 20, 2013, the first day after becoming a college graduate.

I also think of the sentiments expressed in the song, “Here I Am”, by Bryan Adams, featured in the movie Spirit Stallion of the Cimarron. I was starting life anew, with a fresh outlook on life owing to the events of the day before. (Here’s a link to a YouTube video of this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYyvZbcI1ok)

Before leaving for work, Mom welcomed me to the first day of the rest of my life. I suppose that adage, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life,” fits any day, but its meaning rang so true for me that day. My life before this day had been defined by being a student. This Monday would be the first day my life wouldn’t be defined that way. And having no set plans yet, my life wouldn’t necessarily be defined by anything, except what I would make of it. It felt a bit strange because the life of a student is all I had ever known. But having received this new status, that of college graduate, I entered into a new reality which would open up so many possibilities being available as I ventured into the next stage of life, seeking out employment in the field in which I had spent much time training. Indeed, that day, as I do to this day, I saw the world in a totally different way now being a fresh college graduate.

I spent this first week after graduating from Valparaiso University tending to a variety of tasks, having much time open now with schoolwork being out of the way. I did chores around the house. I went out and about to local institutions in Oak Park, like the FifthThird Bank, Maze Branch Library, the Main Library, and the Farmers’ Market. I took time to read a little bit, with books of my choosing, instead of what had been assigned to me. I started writing thank-you notes to those who had given me graduation gifts, and other notes to friends from school thanking them for their friendship. I also enjoyed time with family in Oak Park, and at my grandma’s house in Chicago.

On that first Monday, there was also a very active stormy pattern taking hold over the United States. I excitedly poured over data to see what was going on with it. I was hardly missing a beat in keeping up with the weather, like I had done throughout the past four years. (I do acknowledge, though, that weather has heartbreaking implications at times, as was the case in Moore,OK.)

There were a couple things I did, though, that stood out in this first week. On Wednesday, I joined Pro-Life Action League staging a protest on the 900 S. Block of Oak Park Avenue. There is a physician who practices at an office there who is connected with an abortion clinic in Wichita. PLAL went out to protest her affiliation with an abortion clinic in an effort to get that Wichita clinic to close. I was glad to have the opportunity to take a stand for the life and rights of the unborn in my own local community. I even like to think it’s part of taking up the charge I received at graduation to do good in the world, especially in concurrence with Dr. Nunes’s address, in which he urged graduates to be the generation that summons the rest of society to respect the humanity of all people, from womb to tomb.

The other event of note that I attended was on Thursday. Through my involvement with the Theology on Tap faith formation series last summer, I received an e-mail from the Office of Young Adult Ministry in the Archdiocese of Chicago informing me that there would be a faith-sharing group meeting of young adults this day, with the topic being the saints. I was intrigued by the idea of participating in such a discussion, hearing what others’ thoughts on the subject, and sharing my own ideas. So on Thursday evening, I got in the family vehicle and took a nice drive to St. Francis Xavier Parish in LaGrange, IL—it was indeed a nice drive, through some lovely communities like Riverside, Brookfield, and LaGrange that I don’t often go to.

I had a nice time there, engaging with the other young adults in the topic at hand. After discussing saints in the official sense, we talked about qualities that define a saint, and saints in our own lives that we know. I value the stories of the saints the Roman Catholic Church has officially designated, and then thinking that there are people I personally know who I can recognize as saints for the Godly character qualities I admire in them.

So it was a good time of discussion, but the best part was that it marked the first time I got involved in a faith formation/church event since graduating from college. I valued being part of several faith communities while at Valparaiso University, and without missing a beat, I was continuing my involvement in faith community even beyond college, because God is still working in my life.

So that’s a wrap on my first week of living the post-college life.

(Please note: Like my Nexus Day blog post, I intended to have this one posted at the end of May, right after these events happened, but logistical delays led to this being posted in June.)