This morning was bittersweet. This is my fourth year of seminary. I’ve officially spent more time in graduate school than I did in undergrad! Almost all of the students that Jeff and I started school with have graduated and are long gone. New faces have popped up, really young ones, and I notice a few small changes around. There is a new microwave, which is a huge improvement on the old one which took five minutes to warm a bowl of soup. There is a plant shelf in the woman’s bathroom, and a pump of Trader Joe’s lotion by the sink. I know, not a big deal but I notice these things. The biggest change in the school is not visible-they’ve gone from Multnomah Bible College and Seminary to Multnomah University. Doesn’t affect me that much. Tuition has gone from $407 a credit to $423 a credit (which does affect me, unfortunately).
For the most part though, nothing is new. I am pregnant, but I’ve done that before too. Two years ago I started a fall term pregnant as well. And this isn’t my first time as a seminary mom, we did that last year as well. I guess the one thing that’s significant is that this is my last first day of school…I think (more on that later). As I look around, waves of memories roll over me. The smells, the sights, the familiar voices. I have too many memories of throwing up in the bathrooms when morning sickness overtook me that first spring term. I remember hysterically crying in the stairwell when a traumatic family event took place. I remember first meeting my friend Liz, and awkwardly conversing about degrees and programs. I remember (and am beginning to even feel) laboring up the staircase 8 1/2 months pregnant, wondering how they they seemed to add more stairs every week. I remember the first day I went to school without Jeff, crying in my car trying to muster up the courage to go it along. I remember hundreds of trips driving to and from McMinnville. In many ways Multnomah University has become a second home to me. The professors are friends, mentors, spiritual parents. The students, though perhaps not many are close friends, are familiar, sharing the common goal of desiring to serve the Lord, and sharing the common struggle of work schedules, homework loads, obscene school loans, and family commitments.
But this Monday was my first last day of school. Strangely though, I don’t really want to be done. I’m not sure what lies ahead, but more on that later. Tonight I’m just reflecting on what an amazing place Multnomah has been for me. More than an education, it’s been a place of refuge, growth, challenge, safety. A place where I can risk, fail, hurt, be vulnerable, ask questions, doubt, challenge, and love. It’s been a place where I feel valued, invested in, and cared for. I could never ask for anything more than what Multnomah has been for me. So tonight I just say thanks, thanks to the professors, counselors, janitors, president, and people who have made Multnomah home for me. On my last first day of school I’m thankful.