It's an ALMOST done deal

I am officially a college graduate. OK, not officially, but I walked (with all the "pomposity of the occasion" per instructions of the University president) on Friday night.

It was both more, and less, exciting than I had anticipated - as with most big things in my life. I actually really enjoyed wearing all the honor cords that I had accumulated - though the comments from fellow students began to wear on me (and the people standing in line with me for two hours waiting to walk in to the coliseum). I have come to terms with the fact that I'm a dork - a big ole dork - and that I dig academic recognition and achievement. I also know that those cords don't mean a hill of beans in the "real world" and that most of my bosses in the past (even the couple of good ones) probably only had a "C" average in college, if they went.

The best part of the evening (besides the great salad at Cafe Society afterward) was the unexpected award that I got. I was given the "Margaret Saither Award for Outstanding School of Arts Graduate." Coolio! I'm pretty proud of it.

The night after graduation was the party. We had been planning and working toward this party for a couple of months and were really relying on the weather to cooperate since the band was supposed to play outside on the deck and we wanted to show off our newly constructed patio with the firepit. We bit our nails all week hoping that the forecasters were wrong about the 95% chance of thunderstorms Saturday day and night. And they were! Yeeeehaaaa.

It was a great party if I do say so myself. It made me very grateful and humbled to see how many different kinds of friends that I have. Life is good.

Now back to that thesis.......(yep, took an Incomplete, hence the walking but not actually graduating). Let the wailing and gnashing of teeth resume.