Are you there, life? It's me, Missy.

Hello world! Hello life! Hello leisure reading, gardening, knitting, baking and squirt gun fights! Hello Dr. Seuss and cardboard box forts and nature hikes and showers that last for more than three minutes! Hello you and you and you!

School is over and done and also finished. I graduated on Saturday, marched to Pomp and Circumstance, shook my booty across the stage, and moved my tassel from the right to left. Or was it left to right? Oh god. Did I do that wrong? Does that mean I didn’t actually graduate? GREAT. Something else to have nightmares about, in addition to all the other nightmares about suddenly not having enough credits to graduate or the school suddenly realizing that my test scores weren’t good enough to get into grad school AFTER ALL, or showing up naked to take a final exam for a class that I never even knew I was enrolled in.

Still, at least during the daytime I know I am done with school and man, does it feel good. Last night Ella stayed up late. Way late. And you know what? I wasn’t stressed or agitated or anxious. I didn’t try to foist her on Chris to please oh god take this child for a walk because I have an eleventeen hundred page paper to write. No. I did not.

I played peek-a-boo.

Then I made an entire double layered chocolate cake for myself and frosted it and licked the beaters and sat down with a hunk of it and an ice cold glass of milk and read a book that had nothing to do with public policy or statistics. Then I stretched. And yawned. And had one more piece of chocolate cake. And then, when I was tired, lord have mercy, guess what I did?

I went to bed. Just like that.

Here is a very short and not so good video of some of our class walking into the Assembly room at the state capitol at graduation. I take my seat in the second row on the left side, the first person in from the aisle. Though you really can't tell it's me, so I might as well pick out the best looking person and claim it's me, instead. This was a video shot by a family member of another classmate, so the focus was not on me (WTF?). At some point I'll post some graduation photos here, too.

As soon as I track down whose camera they're on.

Hello life, it’s nice to see you again. Let's stay in touch.