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But anyway! None of that for now. First, it's catch up time! I graduated! Yaaaaay! To be honest, it was kind of long and boring. I'm still not sure I completely believe it. I suppose that's because I have so much left to go where my education's concerned. When I graduate with my Master's, maybe that will feel real... But real or not, it did occur, so pictures (or it didn't happen):
So! For my graduation we flew down to Alabama. We stayed for... five days? The visit started of a little rough, but it was fun over all. I cried when I left-- as usual. So here's a picture of home to start us off. Pounce in all of her princess glory. I really like this photograph in general. Good job Willie:
While we were in Alabama, we went out to eat with Thanh, Morgan, and Morgan's new girlfriend Sarah Kelly. That was a lot of fun. I remember laughing a lot, but honestly I don't remember many of the details anymore. It feels like forever ago...
Willie has this way of getting the most awkward pictures of me. What, was I sneezing or something?
Willie also got to go down and see Heath while we were there. I know he really enjoyed that. He misses Heath a LOT. They went out to eat at some sketchy place, played Age of Empires, and Heath left me a present... he turned the car on my GPS into a monster truck. Sadly, Heath, though I was amused... your gift led to inspiration rather than perminance. I've replaced the truck with a pirate ship now, though I appreciate the heads up on how to do so!
Oh yes! And of course, there was the whole graduation aspect of the trip too. I had a mini panic on what to wear, how to iron my robe, fix my hair and all of that jazz. As usual, my family came to the rescue. My mom ironed my clothes and my sister did my hair. I was exhausted... I feel bad for getting so emotional over it now. I just wanted everything to be perfect, you know? At any rate, here's the end result, men on the way to my graduation. What am I doing, you ask? Sewing my own honors cords... One of my societies ran out, and the other I hadn't intended to wear in the first place, but, well... it sort of worked out that way.
The wait for graduation to being was loooooooong. It felt like I stood down there for HOURS, and I'm actually pretty sure I did. Hadley hated it. She said she's not going to her college graduation. We'll see about that. At any rate, Willie took a picture of my name in his booklet. He's so cute:
The procession, all seven BILLION of us sitting down, waiting to receive our diplomas. Since it was the summer, it was shorter, but it still took forever. Arts and Sciences went last, of course. The funniest part was when we went up to "receive our diploma," we got a certificate of participation inside the case. It was rather cynical... "if you pass the requirements then you may receive your diploma." I got a laugh out of it... and it made me kind of nervous:
After the ceremoney, me hugging my mom. She cried. She and my dad both gave me money to help out with the move and everything. My dad had put it inside a regulator box, which was funny since I believed him at first... and because I really don't like diving anymore, hehehe. It was a LOT of money, so I felt guilty, but was appreciative. I really needed it at the time.
And of course, after it was all said and done, we had to take pictures. Here's two of the many that were taken on our back deck. I find it funny, because I could still remember taking my high school graduation pictures there just three years earlier. Wow, has it really only been that long? I love my family... and I miss them a ton.
