Now you have the ability to keep me from graduating. You can keep me from getting the title and the white coat. But you can't control my spirit.

I got my diploma today. I'm so excited! I think that secretly, somewhere deep in the back of my mind, I was afraid that they would call me and be like "Just kidding!" You didn't really graduate, you didn't fill out this paperwork that we told you you must fill out in 6 point font on the bottom of the sheet that you did fill out, or you owe us $5,000 more, or worse that someone would reread my comps, and now that the summer is over, they would realize that they were just in a fog from needing a break and that of course I didn't actually pass.

This part of my mind routinely likes to ignore all the evidence that demonstrates that I did pass and did graduate (among other things, like gravity sometimes...). My transcripts went through HR. I know they received them because I called and asked. (Hey, better to know than to get to the 8th week of school and be fired for falsifying documents, right?).

It's a very pretty diploma. And now I can put it in my frame, in my fancy office, and look at it regularly to remind myself that this is real.

I need a new way to celebrate tonight. I've given up sugar, so ice cream is out - bummer. Maybe I will buy that necklace I've been looking at.