Graduations Galore

This past weekend we had the pleasure of celebrating two momentous occasions. On Saturday, my brother graduated from Widener University with his B.S. in management and my good friend Karen graduated from Villanova with her Master's in Civil Engineering.

For once my family managed to be on time in departing for the morning's main event (my brother's graduation), only to be stopped at a police traffic stop on the way to the ceremony. We were a little confused as to the purpose of a traffic stop at 8:45 on Saturday morning, but we soon learned they were checking seatbelts and making sure there were no drunk drivers. We even got a lovely printout of what a cop looks like when he pulls over a drunk driver. Really? Saturday at 8:45 am? My dad informed them that the line of cars they were holding up likely had a once-in-a-lifetime event they were trying to make. I don't think the cop cared. We did make it in plenty of time and upon arriving to campus we got a quick peek of the fabulous home my brother had been inhabiting. At that moment I questioned my desire for Benjamin to go to college.

After finding seats, my dad and I took a brief walk to find the restrooms and asked each other if we ever thought this day would come. My parents were pretty sure it would for my sister and I. Despite my brother's intelligence, he has a knack for unfortunate situations. We thought back to his early days when we frantically searched for him one afternoon, only to have him returned by two strangers after he attempted to turn his Big Wheel onto the onramp for Third Line (a highway outside Toronto). Then there was the incident of the car transplanting the tree. After that, there was the car vs. head incident (pictures of the aftermath available on his facebook page). Needless to say, we are amazed and very proud of his scholastic accomplishments.

The ceremony itself went fairly quickly, though it had a slightly odd tone throughout most of the speeches. I'm not sure I have ever been encouraged so many times to forget about material successes. Towards the end I wondered how my SPF 100 sunscreen was holding up. I have my answer in that I still have tinges of pink in my face today.

Later in the evening, we attended a graduation party for Karen at her parents home. I am completely amazed at her level of engineering intelligence and I think back on our college days in calculus-based physics. The professor kept saying how fun it was. Karen actually believed him. Karen has been a truly reliable friend since I met her our freshman year at PennState. So much so that we lived together our senior year. She was then a bridesmaid in our wedding and was at the hospital shortly after Benjamin's birth to meet "mini-man." She was his first non-family babysitter. I couldn't help but remember the days of our Crystal Light mixtures and Karen calling me one day to say she was trying to make chicken and there was oil splashing all over the wall in our kitchen. I will say again that I am completely amazed at how so much brain power can fit into such a fun person.

I don't know if Stephen or I will ever get it together to go back to school, but for now we will celebrate the accomplishments of others and hope that in approximately 20-21 years, we will be attending the college graduation ceremony of our son (if he survives our parenting for that long).