This is for you.

Today, 18 June 2015, all my grades have been entered in this thing called the CRS (it's an online portal of UP students' grades and information pertaining to class registration), which means I am one or two steps away from graduation. Finishing law school was one of the hardest things I have done in my life.  So please understand if I get uncharacteriscally emotional about it. I am not expressive by nature but I will be, this one time. 

When I try to recall what I answered as a kid when asked what I wanted to be when I grow up, I always answered, 'I want to become a lawyer.' So choosing the university I will enter and the course I will take in undergrad was easy. Deciding to take the entrance examinations to different law schools was also easy. 

Studying law in UP, now, that was difficult. To describe it more accurately: It was challenging. Law school was a never-ending cycle of preparation. Everyday, you prepare for class and recitation. You prepare for examinations. You prepare for reports. You prepare for moot court. You prepare for LDs. You prepare for court hearings. You prepare yourself to get the highest or the lowest of grades. You prepare for the best, the worst and everything in between. I have endured this cycle for five years, and, I admit, it wasn't all picture-perfect. 

Law school was so damn hard I needed constant support and encouragement when the universe (or my professors ha ha ha) threw everything at me, sometimes all at once. 

I would not have survived those five years if not for the support system I had in my parents, my siblings, my neutrals, my sorority sisters, my blockmates and my friends. To name each and every one of you will take space that I don't have right now (ha ha ha) and I would rather thank you in person than here. But please know that I will be forever grateful for your help. Thank you for, knowingly or unknowingly, helping me get closer to achieving my childhood dream.

The five years I spent in Malcolm Hall were not the easiest, most fun or most enjoyable five years of my life. Thank you for making it bearable.

The journey does not end here. Finishing law school does not make me lawyer. Passing the Bar will--well, technically, it's signing the roll of attorneys. I hope that I pass the Bar exams to make you, my family and friends, proud. Only then can I proudly say that I have properly thanked you for the love all of you have given me, in one way or another, in the past twenty five years of my existence. 

Thank you, and see you on the other side.