Thursday, June 2, 2011

June 2

Happy Graduation Day to my eldest daughter. She walked the walk of the educated today. It was a nice ceremony. She was even mentioned in one of the speaker’s speeches, and led everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance. The ceremony started at seven this evening, but the doors were scheduled to open at six. We wanted to get there when the doors opened so that we could get good seats. When we got there, there were about a million people. Luckily, we had forgotten to get batteries before we arrived. It was lucky because I didn’t have to fight my way through the crowd. I went to Safeway and picked up the batteries and a bouquet of roses. By the time I got back, there wasn’t any line, but there also weren’t very many seats left. My wife saved me one or else I would have been standing along the wall with about a hundred other people. If there was one bad thing to say about the event it would have to be that the person who was in charge of turning on the air conditioner decided not to show up. It was burning hot in there, but I bet the graduating class didn’t notice. My daughter and the others were all smiles and having fun. My youngest daughter was also in the program. She was in charge of leading a row of seniors on and off the stage.
We tried to be the loudest when my daughter’s name was called, but there was some very stiff competition. Leading up to the graduation ceremony, it seemed like we had to fight for tickets. But, there were some kids that had about two dozen people in their cheering section. Even though I got batteries for the camera, we didn’t get very many pictures of the ceremony itself. There were so many people crowded up front, it was more prudent to just stay where we were sitting. That way, no one was able to swap our seats. Besides, it was very dark and the camera didn’t get that good of a close up. And, my daughter was hidden in the back. All of the kids up front were all kinds of tall. So, the only opportunity to get her in a shot was when she was at the podium or when she was walking to get her diploma. But, we made up for it in the parking lot. We got pictures of her with everyone and some of just her in her cap and gown.
Getting out of the auditorium was nearly impossible. All of the millions of people were trying to leave at the same time and meet their graduates in the room outside the door. Of course it didn’t occur to anyone to move out of the way. I knew I should have brought a couple of linebackers to plow the way so we could get through. When we finally made it outside, it was wonderful. There was a cool breeze and it was only half as crowded as inside. We managed to meet up with my daughter out there. Surprisingly, they were serving snacks. I don’t remember my high school serving anything when I graduated. Of course that was like twenty five years ago, back in the olden days where they didn’t know what food was. When I graduated, all they wanted to do was get us in and then get us out. I think they even locked the doors halfway through handing out the diplomas so that when we left, we couldn’t get back in.
Over all, it was fun. My daughter looked great in her cap and gown. I’m very proud of her.
-Thom

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