Reflections of a College Graduate

Let me begin by saying "Whew!" The past few weeks have been crazy, and I've hardly had any time to read blogs, let alone write any of my own!

On Saturday, I graduated from Western Kentucky University with a degree in Public Health. The few weeks leading up to the commencement ceremony, my life was consumed with several large projects and numerous final exams, so needless to say, I didn't quite have time to sit down and blog about what all was going on in my life. I think it's sufficient to say now as an update that I was simply preparing for the one moment I've been dreaming about since filling out that first application to WKU in 2005. Wow. I still don't think it's hit me that I'm now a college graduate, and it's definitely going to take a lot getting used to. Taylor Mohon, B.S. Now that has a ring to it!

I can still remember my very first morning of classes that hot August day in 2006. I was so nervous! But let's back the train up a few days before that. I can remember packing up all my stuff and moving up to McCormack Hall on a very early Thursday morning. My mom was already back in school herself, and so I had no one to help me move into the dorm. I suppose you could say that it was my very first exercise in independence. I was 18 and fairly new to adult life. The idea of getting out on my own was exciting, but yet terrifying at the same time. Luckily, my good friend Rhanda Lee had already moved on campus and so she walked from Poland Hall to McCormack Hall to help a girlfriend--me--move all her clothes (and believe me, there were a lot of them) into the dorm. Being the homebody that I was, I came back home that evening and spent the rest of the weekend with my parents at home. Sunday rolled around and it was time to head back up to campus for my first full night at the dorm. The following day would mark the beginning of my educational career at WKU. As I had packed the final odds-and-ends to take with me, I remember telling my parents goodbye. You would have thought that I was moving halfway across the country the way my parents carried on about how much they would miss me. I remember my dad crying as I hugged him goodbye and how insensitive I was by telling him that it wasn't a big deal. Little did I realize just how big of a deal it really was. As an 18-year-old, I didn't quite understand the phenomenon known as "the empty nest syndrome." I truly was the last Mohon child to leave the nest. My sister had been gone and married for 6 years, and my brother had been away to college for a year before me. And so, I--their baby--was the last to leave.

I was only gone a year. After a year living on campus at Western, I realized that the "college life" just wasn't for me and so I moved back home. I did well in all my classes (only 3 B's that year; the rest were all A's), but my physical, spiritual, and emotional health were all in one huge chaotic mess. To my heartbreaking dismay, my highschool sweetheart ended our relationship during Christmas break of our freshmen year, and so the next semester was extremely hard for me. I went through a tough time where all I cared about was drinking, tanning, and losing weight (basically, anything I thought that might win back my ex-boyfriend). I didn't realize it at the time, but it was definitely for the best that we parted ways because I found my true soulmate a little bit later in someone who I never imagined I'd end up with. King and I had known each other since I began working at the library in 2005, but I never thought of him as anything more than a good friend. I always knew deep down, without ever truly admitting to myself, that King had always held feelings for me. We officially began our relationship with one another in February 2008 during my sophomore year at Western. I had moved back home with my parents and had cleaned up my act. I had returned to the library and things were looking up. I don't know how I made it through, but looking back in retrospect, I know that it was all part of God's plan for my life. No, He didn't want me to drink or party, but I chose to do those things anyway against His will. He then used those experiences to lead me back home where I would find friendship and true love with King. Eventually, He knew that King and I would both come around and return to Him. And we did. We both started going back to church regularly, and have felt God's presence in our lives more than we ever have. It's so amazing now to look back over the years and see God's handiwork in our lives and how He brought us together and back to Him.

I continued to live at home with my family throughout my undergraduate academic career. As a matter of fact, I'm still living with them and will continue to do so until August 7th, 2010--the day King and I say "I do." Living at home and commuting wasn't easy, by any means. It was tough, but I made it through. I put about 40,000 miles on my car in just 2 1/2 years driving back and forth to Bowling Green (and countless other locations where I traveled for classes, including Brownsville and Glasgow). But in the end, it was all worth it. That B.S. behind my name makes everything that I went through seem so insignificant. And you may be saying, "What's the big deal about just getting a Bachelor's degree? Everybody gets one of those these days." And yes, that may be true. But it doesn't mean that it's any less special for me. I tend to look at it as a stepping stone to something else, like my Master's degree, and then on to whatever God wants me to do afterwards. My Bachelor's degree is that first bump in the road to the rest of my life. And I'm looking forward to finding out where that road will lead. I can only pray that God will give me direction, and that I'll be obedient to follow wherever He calls. And in the mean time, I pray for patience, dilligence, and selflessness to take up my cross daily for His honor and glory. From here on out, every paper I write, every test I take, every presentation I give will be for Him, and not for me. I expect great things out of this Bachelor's degree and my Master's degree to come, and I know God wants to use those for something big and awesome; I just don't know what that something is yet. So I ask that you pray for me as I make the journey of finding out God's will for my life. Recently, I've taken the last phrase in Luke 12:48 as my personal motto and mission for life: "For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required" (NKJV). I was blessed exceedingly with a college education, and have been even more blessed to be handed an opportunity to attend graduate school. Because of the blessings that the Lord has given me, I know that much will be required of me in return. God has blessed me; now, it's my turn to bless Him.

Wow. I originally intended for this blog to be a quick update on where I was in terms of school, but it has ended up as so much more. To be honest, I'm not even sure if this blog makes any sense to anyone else but me (and the Lord, of course), but that's ok. I only wrote what came from my heart. I hope this blog has somehow touched someone's life out there in cyberspace. If you're a friend reading this, thanks for being there for me and just being a good friend. I don't have a ton of "friends," but the few ones that I do have are absolutely great (and you know who you are!) So thanks--if I've never said it before. Thanks for encouraging me to stay with school and hang in there. Thanks for riding the commutes with me. And to one special friend who was kind enough to drive me back home from school so I could be with my grandmother during her final moments of life, thank you. I don't think I ever said just how much your sacrifice meant to me. And to another "friend" (a.k.a "King"), thanks for listening to all my complaints about school, especially during the last home stretch. I know I was unbearable, but you made it through with a smiling face and open arms. The next two years are going to be tough, and I'm sorry if my domestic skills never reach super-woman level, but I'm going to try. I just ask for your patience. I know my decision to pursue graduate school will--in a lot of ways--ask you to make lots of sacrifices, and I'm thanking you for those in advance. I'm looking forward to being your wife, and I love you.

Wow, yet again I've amazed myself at how this blog has evolved into something that was not originally intended. I will close now on a lighter note by saying "Happy Graduation to Me!" It's been a long journey, but a good one.