One Year Later: Graduation Confessions & Other Stuff

It's already been a year since I graduated with my first college degree and, frankly my dear, I just can't believe it. The older I get, the faster time seems to fly by -- not pass me by -- just fly by. This weekend I went to graduation at my old college. It was nice to be able to see where I was just a year before. Finals. Final Things. Some final moments. I often miss my friends and my professors, but these days it's pretty easy to stay in touch over the net (if they are into that sort of thing, that is). It's mostly just a matter of finding the time to keep the touch, even if it sometimes feels weird now that our lives have taken slightly different paths.

"Mama always said there's an awful lot you can tell about a person by their shoes. Where they're going, where they've been"....

Sorry, that was random. Anyway, I was saying something about graduation. Allow me to share with you some occurances that happened last year [involving my dad] during graduation weekend. First, for those you who don't know much about my undergrad school, it's pretty strict about alcohol (since it's a religious-based institution). Drinking is generally taboo...

Graduation rehearsal

• At my school, it is tradition that a parent, or some significant person, wear a white robe and escort the graduating student during the graduation ceremony. During the ceremony, the parent must "hood" the student with an academic hood. This is a really good bonding experience (at least it was for me). My dad was the one to hood me.
• Note: My dad can never go anywhere without an alcoholic beverage at hand...
• At graduation rehearsal, the parent and student must practice the "hooding" process and go over some other vital info.
• As my parents and I were entering graduation rehearsal that friday, I noticed my dad had brought along a little "beverage" for himself. Yep, it was a big ole' mug of alcohol. I was pretty nervous during practice, hoping people would not suspect. I wonder if I am the first person in the school's history whose escort brought alcohol to rehearsal? When they were explaining the hooding process to the parents, I couldn't tell if it was the alcohol or the somewhat complexity of the process that was causing my dad not to understand how to do the hooding. I think it was a bit of both!

Senior dinner

• That friday night, the graduating students and their parents had a senior dinner to attend. I didn't find out until a year later that my dad was up to his old tricks at this, too. My mom informed me this weekend that he had brought a beer with him to the dinner and was just going to carry it in but she convinced him to let her put it in her purse.

Just so one knows: I don't have a problem with alcohol (However, I do think it should be used in moderation -- it can be easily abused). I just thought these were rather amusing stories. I guess it's funnier if you had went to my school. hee hee.

Anyway, my first year of being a college graduate has been a good one. At times it has been stressful but, mostly, it has been wonderful. I have to admit that, although grad school is great, it will never fully compare to my undergrad schools. Maybe it was the people. Maybe it was the places. Maybe it was the things we did. Or maybe, just maybe, we humans simply compare things way too much. Whatever the case, I recieved an excellent undergraduate education during those five years (yes, five years -- it's getting to be common these days). Those years, too, flew by so very, very, very fast.