Commencement

— n
1.	the beginning; start
2.	a. a ceremony for the presentation of awards at secondary schools
	b. a ceremony for the conferment of academic degrees

Nearly a year since my last post, but not quite. Warp speed has slowed briefly to something bearable, and blogging for my wedding and considering the future make me want to post here again.

It's always been funny to me how the word "commencement" actually means "beginning," and yet psychologically it represents collapse in exhaustion and gratitude that some academic journey has finally ended.

Of course, if you're southern, you know that "commence" has a place in certain phrases like, "she commenced to hollerin' and cussin' and whoopin' on his sorry no-count cheatin' ass." Which is a whole other connotation, entirely. But anyway.

Speaking of southern, I am leaving the south, and red states I have always called home, hopefully forever. There are pieces of me that will be forever rooted here, but it is time to commence on a new path into western woods and coasts and insect-and-humidity-and-tornado-free life. I don't hate the south, but I am continually dismayed at how an entire region can be simultaneously so nice and polite and hospitable while also being hateful and hostile and ignorant. And hot!!

It is also the commencement of married life and new jobs and new... life. More on that later. I'm still processing it.

Of course, for Doug and for me and for thousands of other graduates everywhere, collapsing in exhaustion and gratitude for the end of our academic journeys is definitely warranted. I have 6 weeks to go.

It is the end, and the beginning, again.