2017-05-13 - Saturday - Meredith's graduation

Saturday was Meredith's graduation day. It was marred by a steady rain and a really horrible lack of planning on the school's part.

Since the graduation takes place in a tent on the lawn a lot of the area surrounding the tent was under almost a foot of water. There wasn't anywhere near enough room in the tent for a majority of the families so we were herded into the cafeteria and others were sent to various buildings to watch the proceedings on projector screens.

Since we were watching the ceremonies on the YouTube feed instead of the direct one we lost audio shortly after the start. It was only by counting the names in the program that we even knew Meredith was coming up, since we couldn't hear her name announced.

We had to park about 1/4 mile from the cafeteria and most of the "shuttles" were open, 6-passenger golf carts with a roof. Now we know how the Gorton's fisherman feels.

This was a completely unacceptable way to treat the graduates and their families especially after paying an exorbitant amount of tuition for four years in anticipation of this moment. Due to a horrendous lack of planning we missed one of our family's biggest moments.

Now that I got all that out, let me say that we are immensely proud of our daughter for graduating cum laude with a 3.5 GPA and being on the dean's list for all of her semesters. I know she gets her beauty from her mother and apparently her intelligence too.

The day got better. We went for a nice lunch and then back to the house for cake. It's always nice to have the whole family around for these important moments.

After cake and celebrations we went to pack up Meredith's belongings from her apartment.

Tomorrow it's on to the next phase of her life.

Justin, Stephanie, and Ryan in the cafeteria.

Meredith on the big screen.

The big screen.

At the restaurant.

At the house.

At the apartment.

Goodbye to the apartment.

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2014-07-02 - Wednesday - Proud papa

It's official:  both of our children made the dean's list!

Needless to say, I am one proud father.

My wife has a college degree which took her five schools and nine and a half years to complete at night while working full time.  I am very proud of her accomplishments.

I never went to college.  I tested for a scholarship to art school, but didn't get it.  They accepted my application, but I couldn't afford the tuition and the cost of commuting.

Our daughters will be the first in my immediate family to graduate from college so it's going to be very emotional when they take their walk across the stage.

The fact that they are both excelling at things that they love makes me want to leap for joy.  I am thrilled that they have both found interests that they are passionate about at such a young age.

I still don't know what I want to be (if) when I grow up.

Life is good.


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