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.

 

My Littlest's Sister's Graduation

E3 is almost six years younger than me so she just finished up her undergraduate career this week.

I joined in the festivities last Friday. My mom flew into Manchester, New Hampshire. I drove down to spend the night with her before driving to Boston Logan the following morning to pick up E2 before going down to New Jersey. We went to dinner at an Japanese steak house that seemed unique in that there were no Japanese decorations or anything (I minored in East Asian Studies and studied Japanese to do so). I spilled ginger salad dressing on my polo shirt--I had planned on wearing that polo shirt back to Maine. Opps.

A sign in the hallway of the hotel. It was still so noisy in
that hotel even though none was playing hockey inside.

Saturday morning we left for Boston! I left my fancy soap for my sensitive skin behind in the shower (my mom said she checked the bathroom to see if anything got left behind but I guess she didn't look in the shower). I told my mom and my sister about the anxiety I feel driving through Boston and all the tunnels in Boston. (One of my law school exams involved who to sue after a disaster in the big dig.)

We stopped in New Jersey to pick up my step-grandma who grew up in New York and then we headed to our hotel. After checking in we found my little sister on campus and took her to P. F. Chang's, her favorite restaurant, for dinner.¹After taking my sister back to campus we went to Friendly's for some ice cream.

Flowers outside P.F. Chang's

The next day was the Baccalaureate.² Here, like at my graduation, there was only enough space for the graduates in the chapel so we watched video from inside from the green. It was long and boring and we were in the hot sun. (It would only get hotter as the week progressed.)

E3 in the Procession to the Chapel.
E2 Taking a picture of it.

After it was over we went to pick up our former Nanny at the train station! It was so good to see her and I know she was so excited to E3 graduate since she help raise her since she was a baby! I remember her giving us updates about how big E3 was before my parents brought her home from the hospital.

We got Indian food all together in town at Masala Grill! It was delicious. After getting stuck in horrible traffic on our way to pick up our Nanny and after my credit card got declined at the gas station. (FYI there are no self service gas stations in New Jersey so it was extra awkward except the attendant was talking on his cellphone the whole time so it really wasn't.)  Then we had ice cream at the Bent Spoon--the honey ice cream was the best thing I have ever had!

My OOTD. I loved the mirror in the hotel room.
I bought this dress in 2010 and this was the first
time I wore it. It used to be just a little too big.

E2 and I took Mom, Step-Grandma, and Nanny back to the hotel and then we went back to hang out with our Dad, Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins. We had planned on going to the step sing with them but they were tired out and went back to the hotel after we said hello and caught up. (I had to let my cousin who goes to my dad's and my alma mater know about my fancy white mule³ dress for my reunion the following weekend.)

E2 and I went to E3's dorm and helped her pack up a bit. OMFG her room was so messy! I was happy to be able to help her because I remembered when Hubs and I moved out of our dorm after we graduated. I got a mockingjay pin for my efforts because she had a million of them for some reason. We packed nonstop until 11 PM and then drove all our stuff to his parents house. We were supposed to be moved out by 7 PM. Oops.

The Seniors on the Steps. I have video, too.
Maybe I will figure out how to put those on the blog.

We went with E3 to the step sing and grabbed a seat in the back. They had kettle corn but we didn't have any. We got exhausted about halfway through so we left and went back to the hotel. The seniors got up on the steps and sang a bunch of song. New popular songs--most of them mentioned Tigers and I supposed that wasn't coincidence since that is their mascot--and old school songs. I found it amusing that the seniors didn't know all of their old school songs. But I am jealous that their alma mater isn't to the tune of Oh Canada.

So! The commencement related festivities lasted until Tuesday. I've only gotten through describing Friday and Saturday. So I'll give it a rest and post the rest on Thursday.

¹ My parents are finally getting a divorce. My little sister was so worried my mom was going to ruin her graduation by picking a fight with my dad. And they got into a fight about it at dinner. :( E3 just left because she was so upset. But I think the kerfuffle at dinner was the only trouble the situation caused E3 this week. I have no idea what the fight started over. All I remember is my mom saying she feels like a failure of a mom because we leave when she starts crying instead of giving her a hug. But honestly it's almost scary and so stressful when she just bursts out in to tears and it's hard to figure out what to do.

E2 and I left a note for the waiter so he didn't think E3
fled and my mom started crying because the service was bad.

² Dinner was not the last trouble I had with Mom. There were only two tickets to the prefered Baccalaureate seating. Mom threw a fit after E3 gave us the tickets about how it was unfair that my paternal Aunt and Uncle would be able to go and that she couldn't go with both me and E2 to the preferred seating. There were only two tickets total. My dad, his sister, and brother-in-law ended up not going. (Mom likes to make crazy assumptions when she's upset.) I felt to bad for my dad since he missed out on events this weekend in order to avoid my mom so that she wouldn't be upset and she still managed to find things to be upset about. There ended up being plenty of space at the Baccalaureate for my dad & co. to go if they didn't mind sitting far away from the screen, as the tickets were just for the seats with the best view.

³ Okay they're really white horses since it's a classic Lilly shift in Hot to Trot but I can pretend. Too bad it's pink and green instead of blue and grey.