Fin.

Hard to believe it's all over. I'll miss my rugby team more than anyone will ever know. They're my family.

An excerpt from the speech I gave today:

" 'WOMEN'S RUGBY!', she said. The rest is history. 1 neon green flyer, 3 coaches, 1 broken nose, over 40 matches, 1 pair of cleats, 1 zulu done in a packed bar, approximately 21 mouthguards, 4 co-captains, 3 amazing littles, 2 ambulance rides, countless socials and parties, over 50 teammates in the course of 10 semesters, and 5 years later... here I am, saying goodbye to the one thing that has defined my college career. To me, graduating from college does not mean leaving UNCG or leaving behind the life of a student. It means leaving my rugby family. As it turned out, I didn't need the NCAA to feel like a college athlete. And I ended up with, in my opinion, the best experience on a sports team that I ever could have hoped for..."

The banquet was absolutely perfect. The seniors were given beautiful flowers, a handmade wood burned UNCG Women's Rugby sign, and the coolest senior gift ever... a "mail bag". The underclassmen had the whole team write letters to each senior, and they gave us each our own mail bag with all of our letters. I read through them during the banquet and cried into my french fries. Haha. I can't believe some of the things people wrote... I am so honored and feel so loved and appreciated.

Life is still insane. Don't expect to hear from me in the next few weeks... graduation is in 2 and a half weeks, and until then I'll be completely swamped! But, I do appreciate the calls/texts/fb messages, even if I haven't been able to respond in a timely matter. :-)

If only I'd known that the last time I saw my grandmother alive, that I would never be able to hug her or talk to her again. The last time I saw her, we went to Longwood Gardens... it was (I think) January 4th. My mom got tickets for her to see the ice skating show there. Mommom seriously loved herself some ice skating. Whenever it was on tv, she'd have it on in the evenings. That evening, we stuck her in a wheelchair, since walking too much was hard on her heart, and we got the best seats in the arena. We went through all of Longwood Gardens and saw the Christmas flower displays, taking turns pushing her and looking at the lights and the flowers in the hot greenhouses. She was excited when we reached the more tropical flowers, and she told us about the flowers in Florida. I wish I had taken a better photo that day. I just snapped this shot as we were walking... I brought my big camera, and took about a hundred photos of the sights at Longwood. But, I didn't take a photo that of the most beautiful sight that day that I didn't know existed. I'd do anything to see her again.

I can still hear her voice in my head. I'm scared that I'll forget it. Her voice has stuck with me, and not only can I hear it, I know what her voice would be saying in response to anything. She was predictable and comfortable.

I miss her today. I wish to see her again.