My morning was reasonably lazy today. With none of my usual friends online for me to talk with and all of my classes for the semester done with, I got a lot of crocheting done on my current project. At noon I drove down to the workplace of one of my friends and picked up the cake she’d gotten for me (which looked /amazing/), then spent the next hour dressing up before heading out to Dillon’s.
After meeting up with my parents, we proceeded to buy Sprite, sherbet, pineapple juice, sugar free cookies, fruit trays, and… picked up my equally amazing brownie bite things that I’d ordered. I’d gotten the bites because I wanted something other than cake, you see, (for who wants to eat leftover cake for a week) but my friend insisted I needed a cake and so that was her gift to me.
From there we headed to the church, slightly behind schedule, and ended up arriving at about the same time as some other family members. It wasn’t any problem, and soon I had a table set up with goodies and I spent time visiting with relatives, the two friends that came (I had been expecting far more), and two of my professors who came. During all of this I learned that the aunt of my friend who got me the cake goes to my church, and that my two professors not only knew one another (they’re from different departments) but one of them also knew a church member who happened to also come to my reception. It was quite fun.
My mother, being a mother, also brought a scrapbook that she had made that covered my life from babyhood through college. I dubbed it ‘mortifying’, of course, but it was really a lot of fun to look through. Nothing like showing your college professors your ballerina pictures from when you were five years old. It worked wonders for conversation starters.
From this, we cleaned up quickly and I departed for the university campus, where I donned my cap and gown, got my name card, and hung out with my fellow music education majors until it was time to walk into the gym for graduation.
I must admit, this graduation ceremony was really great. We walked in two rows down this long line of our faculty members, everyone all dressed up in robes and fancy regalia, then we sat and listened to the president’s speech on being respectful and professional to all, and then… we walked!
When it was my turn, my name was read, I walked along shaking hands with all the head faculty people… and upon reaching the university president I mentioned the fact that “I still have the mallet”, to which he laughed and hugged me before I continued on. This statement dates back to my first day on campus, when during the Welcome Freshman pep rally the mallet head flew off of the mallet that was beating a beanie baby of our arch rival’s mascot, bounced on the stage, bounced on the front seats, and beaned me smack in the center of the forehead. I got to keep the mallet head, and learned later that the story of my pain was told to the incoming freshman for several years after it had happened. I had a memorable first day on campus, and now, today, I have received a memorable finale. Of course, the end of one segment in life is but the beginning of another, and it is a beginning that I am looking forward to experiencing.
Lots of Smiles,
Abby
