Wednesday, June 11, 2014

My Little Sister's Graduation Part II

Monday was class day, another day full of listening to people talk in the hot sun. We spent the morning listening to speeches and watching awards being presented. The two students who spoke that morning did a great job. They were hilarious! And I was really impressed by the number of times the speakers thanked the staff for setting up everything all the work they did over the weekend. I was also impressed by the student speakers humility--they were all grateful for their education and they thanked their parents and the others in their lives who helped them get through school. I sometimes think we as a society forget that how much we rely others to get where we are today and I was glad to see these graduates acknowledge that. The speaker from the outside world that the students had selected, not so much. I was very hot and very bored by the end of the speeches. 

My Sister in Her Class Jacket Giving my Mom a Hug
I went to lunch with my sister, my dad, and my dad's sister and her family. We ate at a Mexican resturanut my sister had never eaten at before and I wasn't terribly impressed with the food. After lunch we walked down the street and I saw black sweaters with 2014 in orange on the front out in front of the book store I thought E3 would love it so I grabbed one and went inside with my dad to buy it as a gift for her.

It turned out E3 had been eyeing the sweaters for forever and was really happy to have one even if we weren't able to surprise her with it. (My dad and I are not the stealthiest of people and she saw us as we picked them up or when I sent my dad back out to get the next size up.) All of us started to go back to E3's room to help her pack. When we ran into the aunt or mother of one of my cousin's friends from school! (Cue it's a small world.) My aunt and I complemented her on her dress. Apparently the whole family had gotten matching black orange and red outfits in the Cameroonian style to wear.

My Step-Grandma with my sisters and me

I ditched E3 because I still have bad memories from packing up my dorm room in '09 so I met up with my mom, step-grandma and nanny as they had just finished lunch. My step-grandma had spent some time in the area years ago and her parents lived there for a really long time so she took us on a tour of the mansions and showed us the little town nearby where she used to live and the house her parents lived in. I didn't take any pictures because I called the credit card company to fix my credit card problem. My nanny got a call from the hotel--there were bedbugs in her room in the hotel! Ugh!

We headed back to meet E3 at the reception for her major. We were a little late but we still got there in time to hear the department head mispronounce her name twice. Ouch. We looked at her poster about disease in sea lions. She stayed with my grandpa and step-grandma in California while collecting the data.

My Sister by Her Poster

After looking at the posters we went to E3's eating club for a BBQ. She have us a tour and we had dinner. I was excited for this event if only because I knew someone my Shifting Lilly Facebook group would be there because her brother was in my sister's class and in her eating club! We met up just as my family was leaving. We were the only people there both wearing Lilly. We talked about how exhausting this three day long affair was and about how we'd have to treat ourselves to something from the Palm Place in town as a reward for making it thru.

BBQ Location

After taking everyone back to the hotel E2 and went back with my dad to continue to help E3 pack up instead of going to the "Prom." E3 is not one for dressing up and dancing. She had so much stuff! I have no idea how she fit it all in her car on Wednesday when she moved out.

On Tuesday it was finally time for them to graduate! We got there and got our seats early and the we had to got to the bathroom. On the way back we ran into E3. E2 put her hood inside out and I put it back the right way and helped her fix it. Plus we got a selfie on E2's phone which she hasn't shared and we ran into my cousin.

I don't think E3 did it on purpose but I love how she
matched her sandals and her regalia hood.

We went over to say goodbye to my Aunt and her family then made our way back to our seats to wait. It was so hot! I have no idea how the graduates could bear it in their regalia.

The college president gave a wonderful speech, they are blessed to have a wonderful speaker as their president. The validvictorian gave a speech entirely in Latin and no translation was provided. And thankfully not everyone's name was called! E2 also went to a small university and we had to listen to everyone's names!

Festive Cake

After the ceremony we went to E3's residential collage so she could receive her diploma and there was food. When they read her name to get her diploma thy said her name wrong, again. Ugh. After E3 got her diploma (in Latin like mine) we gave her, her presents and I went to leave with my mom since I had to be back at work a 6+ hour drive away the next day.

While we were leaving I realized I'd need to say good by to my dad. So I told my mom that and texted him. My mom went to the bathroom. Little did I know my dad was in the lobby where the bathrooms were! We both went in to the lobby and my mom started shouting nonsense at him! My cool finall boke and I told my mom angrily to go to the bathroom. I said good bye to my dad and went to the bathroom myself.

Refuge! The woman working in the shop was so nice!
I sent my mom on to the car and stopped at Palm Place to get myself a prize for making it thru the weekend and only snapping as it was time to go. I picked up their last pair of lobster roll callahans! They were in my size and I took it was a sign so I got them.


I wore them to give blood the next weekend.


So I originally posted this from my phone and the formatting and pictures were weird. But it's been fixed now and I added a little bit more info in some places.

 

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