Five hundred twenty-five thousands, six hundred minutes...

It's amazing how much life can change in a year. It makes me dizzy sometimes thinking about it. Today I got one of my friends' college graduation invitations in the mail and it sent me into my own little walk down memory lane.

A year ago I was graduating college. A and I had decided to up the relationship to the next level and move in together, so bit by bit I was moving my own stuff into his house and getting ready to wrap up the lease on my apartment (which I was never in... since I was always over here anyway). I was completely stressed with senior thesis presentations, final papers, studying for exams, and finding the ambition to actually go to class in the senioritis haze.

My weekends were spent dancing on tables/bar counters and getting drunk out of my mind. I remember my graduation celebration girls' night out... okay, I really don't remember it. At all. I do remember being hungover for two days following it. My three best friends and I would pre-game at AH's apartment and walk to the bars, getting even more falling down drunk, dance in the cages, hit on guys for free drinks only to diss them five minutes later, and stagger back to AH's apartment, where I'd pass out on the living room floor, or occasionally in bed with her.

A and I would go to the bars to watch bands. We'd stay out ridiculously late, somehow make it home, and.... anyway. We were boyfriend and girlfriend and we were the couple that everyone envied, but at the same time baffled everyone because we were the two people that nobody ever thought would settle down, much less with each other. But we had, and have, a chemistry that works for us. Probably wouldn't work well for many people but it works for us.

And then the bomb dropped. Exactly nine days after my graduation, on my 22nd birthday, the jelly bean that would eventually become The Punky started partying in my uterus. Six months later A and I got married in a Vegas semi-elopement (everyone knew we were getting married and just let us go do our thing). Three and a half months after that The Punky was born.

In less than a year, I went from party-obsessed college senior and live-in girlfriend to wife and mom. It was a harsh adjustment... it still is. I remember preparing to walk out at graduation and looking at Irwin, my favorite professor ,who was in charge of herding the Arts & Sciences graduates, and half-jokingly saying, "I'm not ready to grow up. Can I just stay out here in the hall?"

Okay, so I grew up. It's not as bad as I thought. Some days I really miss the things I did a year ago, but I don't miss the person I was. I feel like I had a mental and emotional growth spurt. I just hope the stretch marks don't show.