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I Didn’t Have a Graduation, and I’m Okay With It
I didn’t walk the walk.
2020 was the year of unraveling in many areas of life. From a pandemic raging in the populace to lock-downs causing unemployment to skyrocket to even a dwindling supply chain of toilet paper — those who survived the year were probably grateful to breathe a sigh of relief when the year came to a close.
December 2020 marked the period when I graduated with my bachelor’s degree in Information Technology. After a late stint at community college and five-and-a-half years of wandering through my options as far as higher education, I finally did The Thing everyone had said would make me feel more accomplished. My last four semesters of college were exclusively online, so I didn’t have the whiplash that online learning caused many to have in the weeks after COVID-19 disrupted schooling of all levels.
Instead of a graduation ceremony, though, my tassel and diploma came in a thick packet in the mail a few weeks after my final class. This validation seemed too small, however, especially when my own father questioned my graduation status months later (though that’s another long story). And even celebrating with a party wasn’t “normal” due to the suggested restrictions of family gathering sizes.
