where we gonna be when you turn 25...

vitamin c came out with a graduation song approximately 10 years ago. it's a song meant to make momma's cry because their children are growing up & it is also useful for graduation slide shows when michael w. smith friends are friends forever cannot be used.

some of the lyrics of that song have stuck out to me recently: "so we talked all night about the rest of our lives where we gonna be when we turn 25..."

well welcome to 25, sav.

in high school i talked about what i thought my life would like at 25, 30, and 50 and it pretty much looks completely different than anything i had planned, however, i couldn't be more grateful. so many wonderful people i have met and so many opportunities i have been given. one of which was the chance to get my masters in counseling from JBU.

today i graduated.

emily & nick deserve a blog post for themselves, but they are my second family and have invested in my life in a way that i am eternally grateful for. emily has become one of my best friends and nick is the best professor i've ever had who i am now thankful to call a friend. they love Jesus and people in a way that i want to. they are my friends and my heroes. also, one of the many reasons i am so grateful for attending JBU because it brought these two into my life.

graduation is slightly anti-climatic in that we've worked for 3 years, completed 500 hours of counseling (even more paperwork), wrote thousands of pages for one paper or another, and lived sleep deprived... all for this day.

it was a wonderful day with wonderful people though.

my friends nicole and egypt were with me through the program. i love these two & i am so excited for what God has in store for them on the other side of the world. korea & cairo are on my list of places to visit asap.

here is my family. i love them & would not have made it through these years without them. i should throw them all a party for all they have done for me. bhill had to miss the event (it's kind of become a family joke) but everyone else was there & i was so thankful.

mallory sat through yet another graduation for me and has been the best friend throughout these years. meg is the other best friend that i have an immense amount of gratitude for. mal's and meg's friendship has stood the test of grad school. they loved me when i was really difficult to love and i owe them greatly. mal graduated from UCA nursing school last weekend and meg graduated yesterday from auburn university. we all plan on taking a cap & gown picture together soon (only kidding) but honestly, having two friends like these girls is more than i ever deserve. they are just the best.

now onto the little brother...

dru hill has been my comic relief over the last 3 years, scratch that...20 years. he has the ability to make me laugh unlike any other human. the picture above only makes sense based on dru's tweet during graduation:

@gb_druhill: posted up @savannahluanne 's graduation. I feel like i've done this (twice) before. Nonetheless, congrats Sav. I bow to you, Master.

and there you have it...masters in community counseling & marriage and family therapy.

if anyone had told me three years ago that in order to get to today i would live through 4 surgeries, my dad would have a heart attack, my brother would get married and countless other friends, my grammy would be killed in a car accident, i would travel to africa, i would be challenged spiritually, emotionally, and academically, and i would fall in love with the counseling field. i wouldn't have believed them. but i know this:

i would do it all again.

it has all been worth it and i can't wait for what is ahead...