Cat with a Chat

Less than 50 days.

In 44 days, I will walk across the stage and receive my college diploma, and with that, everything is starting to feel a bit more real. Maybe a bit too real.

Earlier this week, I officially signed my first real lease. Not student dorms or housing, and not something tied to the school calendar, but an actual lease with a realtor. For the first time, I will have a place to call my own.

What makes it even more meaningful is that I’m not doing it alone. I signed this lease with my boyfriend, Ronde, the same person I met during my first year here. In many ways, this decision feels like a continuation of the life I began building at Augustana, but also a transition into something more permanent and intentional.

There’s something both exciting and intimidating about that.

In college, so much of life is temporary. Leases end. Classes change. People come and go. Even the idea of “home” can feel flexible, and that definetly rings true for me as an out of state student. But this decision feels different. It feels like choosing stability, choosing a place, and choosing what comes next, and not because I have to, but because I want to.

Looking back, I can see how my time at Augustana has prepared me for this moment in ways I didn’t always recognize at the time. Through my classes, I’ve learned how to reflect more critically, to understand my experiences as part of a larger story, and to communicate that story with intention. I mean, this blog itself is a product of that growth, and an example of how I’ve learned to not just live through moments, but to analyze and give meaning to them.

This decision to stay and to build a life here in the Quad Cities feels like an extension of that learning. It’s not just about where I’ll live, but about who I am becoming: someone who is capable of making long-term decisions, someone who values both independence and connection, and someone who is beginning to understand her place beyond the structure of college.

Of course, there is still uncertainty. That hasn’t gone away, but what has changed is how I respond to it. Instead of waiting for the “right” path to appear, I’m starting to realize that I have the ability to create it myself.

As graduation approaches, moments like this are helping me see my college experience not just as something that is ending, but as something that has actively shaped how I move forward. This lease is more than just a place to live—it’s a reflection of growth, of transition, and of the beginning of a life that exists beyond Augustana.

And for the first time, that feels both real and possible.