On June 15, my boyfriend graduated from university. One year ago, I graduated from the same university on June 16. Since then, I made the possible mistake in focusing too many of my efforts on a lot of isolation and studying, but in the end, I feel like it was a necessary trial. I went all out and tried my best in it, and the results were not outstanding, but they weren’t terrible either. Now it’s time to spread myself out a lot more (bit by bit, at least) so that I can keep growing as a person in different ways and stop wasting time.

For my boyfriend, I’m hoping he’ll get back on his feet way quicker than I am able to…but now that I sit here to ponder about the past year, I know it’s all up to him and it’s possible he’ll need to make the same mistake I did in order to learn for himself. It makes me awkwardly feel a bit like an older sister sometimes, but from this point on we are pretty much equals in terms of our “post-university” lives. I’m a year older than my boyfriend, so I was always giving him advice – whether it was about life goals or about how to get the best seats for graduation – since I was always a year ahead. But now, we will be on equal terms, and I hope we can continue to help each other like we have been in the past.

His graduation day was special, indeed. I finally got to present him with the leis I made slowly for him over the last month. I’m proud to say I didn’t see anyone else at his graduation with a similar looking poofy lei. Our school colors were blue and gold (UCs). I stuck the card in with his other gifts, which he opened after it was all over…and a second round of gifts (one being a yummy cake!) will be later this weekend.

I sat with his family during the ceremony, and his aunt shared a funny story with me, making me appreciate the effort they make sometimes in order to make me feel welcomed into their family. The student speaker who made a speech during the ceremony was terrific; there was even a moment where I could feel my own heartstrings being pulled. Before the student spoke, he was introduced by a professor, and I swear he must have been talking for 5 minutes about the all of that student’s accomplishments because despite spacing out for a while, I snapped back to attention still in the middle of his long list of achievements.

It was very sweet to see the BF’s entire family all so very proud of him, and most of all, to make the BF feel loved & happy. Apparently he is the first American in their Filipino family to have graduated from college in the U.S.

Unfortunately, I was super sick at the beginning of last week…oh my gosh…it was the worst timing ever. There were photoshoots to attend, lots of dinners and hangouts, and three separate graduations to attend during that week. With each passing day, I grew worse and worse, but there was just no time for rest!!! Today, I feel 70% over my cold, but I still can’t taste anything, which is terrible because as you may or may not know, I love tasting good food. So although I had so many dinner outings (including AYCE sushi for the BF’s graduation day), I’m terribly sad to say I couldn’t taste more than half of it and what I was able to taste was extremely muted. Oh well! In the end, it was way more worth it to suffer all week long and still be able to celebrate with all of my loved ones since they were moments I would never be able to experience again, after all.

Last year, most of my friends graduated alongside with me. This year, my 5th year friends and younger boyfriend graduated. With each passing year, I know it will be even harder to keep in touch. But I can at least hope for the best for everyone and hope that we will see each other now and then!