Quiet Tears of Joy

So I have been pretty non-chalant about graduating on Sunday. Not non-chalant in a way that I wasn't thinking about it because I have been as evidenced by my recent posts. But I have been thinking about it in terms of being done and pushing through the final courses. They weren't hard; I was just fighting for motivation. Well this afternoon I e-mailed my final project, which came in at 18 pages. I had to write an entire 12 week curriculum for my discipline. The weird thing was that when I hit the send key, I took a deep breath and had tears in my eyes. It finally dawned on me how important this was. My masters was an expectation and not an option in my eyes, much as my bachelors was as well. However, I made it through and with all A's as well. First in my immediate family to complete both too. Yes... it does feel good. I think I finally understand why my mom wants to make a big deal out of it and why she was forcing me to walk across the stage. So with tears still in my eyes, I want to say thanks for all the congrats. I finally feel like I deserve it.
(The pic came out kinda weird. I will actually scan it later, but I am too lazy to do it right now :-)