I can’t believe I am done. I have been on this journey so
long that I almost don’t know how to feel now that it is over. The ceremony
itself was a bit of a blur. It didn’t help that I was running a fever and my
whole body was aching, but as I gave my professors and classmates a hug at the
end my hoarse voice said “goodbye” somehow I felt like I was rehearsing a line.
I have said more than a few goodbyes during this year of moving every 3 months
for a new internship but somehow these are partings I wasn’t prepared for. How
does it make sense to say goodbye when of course I would see them all again in
class—the same way I had seen them every week day for the last 2 years… except
I won’t see them again. This is the end of school. The class of 2012 is
disbanded and we are all officially physical therapists now. I sat by Christine and Ansley,
Jenny cried a little, Jason laughed at me for sleeping during the ceremony,
Elias skipped the whole thing, and minus one other palpable absence the whole
gang was there. It was refreshing to see everyone, but even better was the
feeling of standing on the stage, listening to my name being read, and having
Dr. Anton place a hood over my head. That is a feeling I will never forget—a
warmness not quite from my fever or the sun that left me grinning like a fool
and prancing across the platform to retrieve an empty diploma cover. After
seven years, an embarrassingly large sum of student loans, a river of tears, an
untold number of late nights, and more stress than I ever thought I could
endure, I am finished. An army of teachers, friends, family, and mentors have
led me to this moment and there is no way I could have gotten here any other
way. Even with that, it was also a lot of work. A mountain of really really
exhaustingly hard work, and I did it.
You can call me doctor if you want.
