Today is my graduation day. Isn’t it just like me to graduate during a thunder storm? Guess I will go out with a bang.
I am graduating at 11 this morning. I can’t believe the journey here is almost over.
The last few weeks have been quiet. I did my “out-of-town” route on Monday. I went to Monroe on the Greyhound and took the city bus to the mall. I returned in the evening.
In my last update, I said I would talk about my drop routes.
I finished these graduation routes a few weeks ago. On one of them I miscalculated. I thought I was on a different road than I was actually on, so I went the wrong way and ended up near the interstate. I realized my mistake. I was confused, as I hadn’t been up that way on that particular road.
I walked around for three hours, and eventually called for a ride home. I wasn’t disappointed because I was confident in my travel skills. I was safe and doing fine. I just couldn’t figure out exactly where I was and the best way to get back. I called for a ride. In retrospect, I think I could have made it back. I was tired and hot and needed a break.
The next day, I did another drop route and found my way to the school within 30 minutes.
My Braille speed is averaging 50 words a minute. I get nervous when the teacher times me. But the important thing is that I will continue to read when I go home. I achieved what I set out to do.
I completed my final computer assignment. I created Braille versions of the menu at the restaurant back home where the Federation meets. The hardest part was cutting the vinyl covers and binding the menus.
My journey here has been long and life-changing. I am excited to be going home, but also filled with grief to leave my life here.
This is a place both in time and outside time, both in this world and other-worldly.
I am the same person I was when I started. Yet forever changed.
I will go off soon to the library to receive my “freedom bell.”
