Welp, it’s official. I am a CLEMSON ALUM! I can really say that I am a member of the Clemson University Class of 2010. WOWZERS! Okay, so I’ll start from the veeeeery beginning of this incredible incredible INCREDIBLE IIIIIIIINNNNCCRRREEEDDDDIIIIIBBBBLLLLEEEEE weekend. Did I mention incredible?
On Friday I left out from the Ontario airport at 6:40 a.m., had an hour layover in Houston, and arrived in Greenville, SOUTH CAROLINA (the best state in the world, just so you know) around 4:30 p.m. Loooooong day of traveling. But seeing the smiling faces of my daddy, mommy, Shannon, Melly, Dustin, Will, Michal, and Teeeesh waiting for me with a big, bright yellow sign that read “WELCOME HOME ANNA! WE MISSED YOU!” that also had the best sketch of a Tiger that I’ve ever seen. Good thing my little brother is an artist. Quite impressive, I must say. Melly had a large SWEET TEA from Chick-fil-a waiting for me, too. BLISS! It only took me about a minute and thirty seconds to kill the whole thing…holy smokes, that was a little piece of heaven! Wanna know what else? So remember that time I prayed for it to be pouring down raining when I got home? Well, GOD IS GOOD! It was definitely raining. And I definitely just stood in it for a few minutes. Once again, it was bliss!
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| sister's got a brand new ride! |
Emilie Carol got to the house a couple hours after we did, and then the three of us (Michal, EC, and me) made our way to CLEMSON so I could go out downtown one last time as a student. We made a pit stop to pick up Teeesh and Justin (Bieber) and continued on our way. We also met someone in the parking garage…are you ready for this? Okay, here it goes…MY P. SAWYER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my GOODNESS, I missed that girl SO terribly much! It was also super exciting seeing my roomies, Courtney, Craig, and Christine for the first time in three months! The entire night was just perfect and exactly what I needed. Boy, am I thankful for great friendships!
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| oh, how I love my girls! |
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| aaaaand my handsome boyfriend. :) |
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| roomies for LIFE! |
On Saturday morning, my best friend not bestie met us at my house and then three of the best friends a girl could ever ask for headed back to Clemson. I ran into Courtney, we picked up our name cards, and then got in line. Nana, Papa, Grandpa, and Sandra all walked in the door near me, and it was SUCH a breath of fresh air to see them. The rest of my family found me before the ceremony too, and I got to see Uncle for the first time since being back! And thennnnnnn, it was time. Time to walk in front of hundreds of people, shake hands with President Barker, and receive my college diploma. What. A. Day. And that’s not even the BEST part of the day, believe it or not. Are you ready for what comes next? It was the single most thoughtful and exciting thing that I ever remember happening to me. After a million pictures were taken right after the ceremony ended, we proceeded to go to P. Sawyer’s apartment to pick up my “graduation gift.” She had told me earlier that morning that she woke up feeling sick and wouldn’t be able to make it graduation. As bummed as I was, I was more sad that she was sick. Nevertheless, we made our way to the club house in Harts Cove to meet her and collect my goodies. When we pulled up, the first thing I saw was TJ’s truck. Hmmmm. And then as I looked around, I noticed a few more cars that looked familiar. I looked and Melly and said “Something’s fishy…” and her reply was “Shut up and go inside.” Haha, awesome. I went inside and whatta ya know…ALL of my family and friends were waiting inside for me! They threw me a SURPRISE GRADUATION PARTY! Oh my goodness, I am STILL beaming thinking about it right now!
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| it's official. I'm an ALUM! |
I could never in a million years ask for better people in my life and that is no exaggeration. I. Love. My. Life. And that’s an understatement! P. Sawyer, Emilie Carol, Whitney, Michal, B. Davis, Mommy, Daddy, Shannon, Dustin, Freeman, Will, Nana, Papa, Grandpa, Sandra, Uncle, Angie, Troy, Sav, Candie, Justin, Kerri, Sydney, Kerri, Christine, and then three VERY special surprises…Bill, Court Bourt, and Whitney Black! I was on cloud nine ALL DAY LONG! P. Sawyer and Emilie Carol were the master-minds behind the whole operation…they had been planning it since APRIL and everyone was able to keep the secret from me the whole time. Even my mommy, who is the world’s WORST secret keeper. I was VERY impressed with everyone’s scheming abilities!
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| I don't know what I did to deserve a friend like P. Sawyer, but boy am I glad I have her! |
I got lots of goodies, but more importantly, I got to spend time with most of the people I love most in my life at the same time. Rare and definitely not taken for granted. Cait Cait joined in on the slumber party later that night (after she moved her baby sister into college!) and that made me SO happy! Everything was as it should have been in the world on Saturday. My perfect day. Totally undeserved but unbelievably full of thankfulness. Blessings are my favorite, and I can’t even begin to count all the ones I got just in those few hours. I’ll never ever forget August 7, 2010 as long as I live. Not much else could have been added to that day to make it any more perfect that it already was. And even though I didn’t see them, I know Ma and Grandma were there with me, too. : )
Thennnnn Sunday (today) rolled around. Emilie Carol left around 8 o’clock (booo!), Whitney left about an hour after that (another booooo!), and then daddy cooked the rest of us breakfast. Eggs, grits, sausage, and biscuits. There is nothing, I repeat NOTHING, better than a home cooked meal prepared by my daddy. Teeesh and Justin (finally) came to the house about an hour before we left for the airport, we hung out for a little while longer, and then it was time. Time to say my goodbyes all over again. Only this time I didn’t cry…I know, it’s shocking. Two weeks in comparison to three months is a piece of cake, so it wasn’t as hard to give my goodbye hugs out (thankfully). I flew from GSP to Houston to Ontario, and finally arrived back at my cute little apartment in Chino Hills about nine hours after the beginning of my journey back to the golden coast. And I just have to throw this out there…how is a $45 cab ride even legal? I mean seriously, I could have filled up my car TWICE on that amount of money and he only drove me 13.2 miles. Absolutely ridic!
It’s currently 10:30 p.m., and I have to be up in roughly five hours to get ready for the busiest week of my life (aka my last week of my internship aka Land Meets Sea Sports Camp). I am SO pumped for the camp to finally be here because I’ve been working on it since my second week of work, but I am also dreading it because come Friday at 6 p.m., I’ll be the former intern at Outdoor Adventures. And I’ll definitely be bawling my eyes out. Buttttt I refuse to think about that right now. I am just going to go to bed, wake up eeeeearly in the morning (wide eyed and bushy tailed, of course) ready to give our participants the best week of their lives!
The main theme of this blog? That’s easy: My name is Anna Michelle Henderson, and my entire life is just one blessing after another. :)
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| there's no love like a family's love. <3 |
“Do not look back and grieve over the past, for it is gone. And do not be troubled about the future, for it has yet to come. Live in the present and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering.”
–Ida Scott Taylor
p.s. GO TIGERS!
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