by: Ashley D. McGee

Well faithful blog readers, it finally happened. On Saturday, December 5, 2009, I officially became a college graduate! Please…hold your applause, and direct all congratulatory comments to our Lord because I know without him (and my mother of course), none of this would have been possible. Until making my way to the portrait studio earlier that morning, it hadn’t really sunk in that I would be walking into the USA Mitchell Center a regular undergraduate student, and would exit a woman ready to tackle life’s new obstacles head on. The realization was undeniable exhilarating!

After receiving hug after hug from my family members, wiping away tears of joy with my sorority sisters and eating a ridiculous amount of food at the Original Oyster House on Mobile Bay, I was in desperate need of a nap and a good foot massage (you guys know I had to break out the killer heels for graduation). Instead, my mind began to wander as I got glammed-up for the night’s festivities. Some people say graduation makes you think about your future; a future that used to seem so far away. However, all I could seem to focus on was my past.

My life has been anything but easy, but it has been beautiful nonetheless. I’m excited about the relationships I am sure to make in the future, but I cannot forget about the relationships I’ve already experienced. Some have proven to be everlasting (hugs and kisses to “The Team”), while others were simply meant to be seasonal, but I have learned from and grown as a women with each and every one.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”

Without question, I am entering a new season in my life and I am grateful for the seasons past. The seasons filled with prosperity, and the seasons filled with meagerness. The seasons filled with elation, and the seasons filled with anguish. I thank God for every smile and every tear, for every friend and every foe, for every achievement and every failure; I thank Him.