The Grand Finale!

Summer of 2008 was here and I was weeks away from starting the summer quarter. My plan was to take three classes during the summer. I didn't want to waste anytime. My thing was to work hard, so I can finish faster! Something along the way told me to check with financial aid and make sure that all the funds would go through to cover the expenses for my classes. I find out that my financial aid was denied. I wouldn't be getting a penny to cover my classes. That is the last thing I needed to hear. That meant that I wouldn't be graduating until June of 2009. In order to keep this short I will number the things that followed:

1) I went into plan B mode and I decided to ask my parents for financial assistance. :) Long story short they agreed and dished out money for my classes. They gave me the exact amount to cover my classes. For some reason I left out the cost for my parking permit. I felt so bad about asking for more money that I ended up doing without the parking permit. I had to park off campus and walk an extra 25 minutes to my class. I had to make that walk four times a week for eight weeks. IT SUCKED!!! But I wasn't the only one and I figured it was good exercise for me LOL, and all that made me humble.

2) Going back a bit, around November or December of 2007 we found out that one of my close uncles was having health problems. Around the same time another dear aunt of mine was also going through health issues. My uncle had brain cancer, and my aunt had a lot of complications that eventually lead to her death. My aunt passed away July 25, 2008. My uncle passed away August 7, 2008 and my cousin (my aunts daughter) got married August 9, 2008. So first we went to a funeral, a wedding and another funeral. We were going through an emotional roller coaster! We couldn't understand what was going on! It was tough for our family!

3) I wasn't working much and honestly I don't even know how I managed not to get my phone cut off. Maybe a decent balance of the check book helped. I was desperately looking for a job, ANYTHING. I must of had a collection of rejection letters. And it didn't help the economy was bad!!! And well, still is a bit rocky. I remember the summer of 2008 being an extremely long summer. No money, no hours at work, nothing to do. It was awful. Thank God I at least had my nephew around. I would pass my days and hours playing with him. I mean, talk about being dead broke. And when you are dead broke, time passes by realllllllllllllllllly slooooooooooooow! I am glad that's over. I will always remain a strong believer that money isn't everything, but at times it gives you peace of mind and things to do! LOL!

4) Raul and I were trying to figure out what we were going to do about our wedding plans. We decided that we couldn't be apart much longer, we wanted a wedding and we had to have it as soon as possible. That is when we decided on getting married in May of 2009. Thank God things started falling into place! We now have the venue, church, and honeymoon booked. The rest is slowly but surely falling into place. I can't believe there is less than five months left, as opposed to the nine months that were left when we started planning.

5) The fall quarter came around and I started taking my last two classes. I was also given a job at best buy. Whewwww! And well, you all know the drama I went through with the stats. class. I just graduated as you all know as well, on 12/13/08. And I am sooooooo glad to be done!!! :)

It was an interesting journey. At times I thought it would never end! I don't regret the decision I made because I learned a lot along the way. I am glad that I accepted the challenges because I am now enjoying the victory. I now know the true meaning of hard work and sacrifice!!!! I know what it's like to have a passion towards something and work hard for it. It's not that I've never had to work hard to get what I want, but this was something I worked extremely hard for. I had to give up a lot, but in the end it was worth it. I know that I wrote about a lot of the bad things that happened, but don't' get me wrong, I see the positive side of it all too. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to focus mainly on my classes. Getting through school is not easy. I admire people who have a full time job, kids, school etc etc. because that takes a lot of dedication, discipline and hard work. You can't slack off and expect to get good grades. It takes work. So my hat comes off to those who juggle all those things at once. I am here to say that it doesn't matter how long it takes you, as long as you have your eye on the prize, you will get there. And that is all that matters! Don't give up! I am now ready to enjoy life! I will soon be getting married to the love of my life and I can't wait. We have been apart too long and we are ready to start our lives. All I want to focus on for the time being is the wedding plans, my family,and being a good friend and person each and every day. I have many hopes and dreams for the future. I hope that 2009 has a lot of good things and blessing for me, my family, and friends. I just want to be a good future wife, and mother. I hope God blesses us with a bundle of joy by early 2010. :)