29 weeks and a uni graduation

i am officially a university graduate.

i was not a good school student. i never did my homework, often had afternoon detentions for not handing in assignments, never studied for tests and talked through class. 

recently timmy and i cleaned out our filling cabinet. before this 'clean out' we would joke about how we could find important documents in there - car stuff could be found under "c" for car, "f" for forrester, "r" for red car, "p" for papers, "m" for money pit etc and so forth. we didn't actually have any files at all, everything was just shoved in. anyway, we found my old school reports in there (filed under "f" for filing cabinet) they all said lovely things about me with quite a few "buts" when they got to the school work bit. 

my best marks were always in art and music because that's what i was interested in. i was never, ever, ever going to go to uni. i was going to work and travel and become a florist. i got a whopping UAI (university admission index - a number between 25 and 100) of 54.12. yep. that meant that even if i did want to go to uni there was no way i could do it like everyone else. i didn't care though because uni was nowhere in my plans.

as soon as i finished school i started working at a call centre to save for a backpacking trip around europe. i worked for half a year and then travelled for 4 and a bit months with a good friend. the trip was amazing - everything i could have dreamed and more.

when i got home things had changed for me. i wanted to study art. i had always loved art and had some ability that i wanted to explore. i couldn't go straight to uni (and still didn't really want to) so i went to tafe (college) and did a diploma of fine arts. my love of printmaking was born there. from the end of that course i still wanted more and with the tertiary study i had completely was now eligible to apply for uni. i was still completely shocked when i got in.

throw in a year missionary service in canada, a wedding, multiple house moves and a pregnancy and here we are. graduated.

i was so touched that my mum and dad could come. the ceremony was dead boring. like, i actually fell asleep. but holding that piece of paper, seeing my husband and parents faces full of pride felt real good. i actually did it.

my mum graduated with her teaching degree when she was pregnant with me. if you look really close you can kinda see a belly hiding behind those robes. 

my older brothers and sisters (plus a family friend - the girl on the end) watched my mum get her degree. 

life is for learning i tell ya.

wearing american apparel chiffon secretary blouse, long accordion pleat-skirt in creme, bobby leather lace-up shoe in royal blue

watch this space later today for the announcement of the kinfolk giveaway winnner!