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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2017-04-28 - Friday - McDowell Arts Center opening and Meredith with Breeze

Greg Scott and I were invited by Rick Crowley to be in an art exhibit at the McDowell Arts Center in Matthews. The opening was Friday night and it was fairly well attended. There was a lot of variety in the 2D and 3D art displayed.

My pots on the pedestals.

More of the room.

A great Alice in Wonderland set.

Meredith sent us some pre-graduation photos with one of her favorite horses. Breeze has been her pal for several years. He is a big puppy who likes to lick your face given the chance.

That's right, Meredith (our youngest) is graduating from college in May. How the time flies.

She has grown into a smart, beautiful young woman and is itching to start her new job managing a barn in Maryland after graduation. She'll excel at whatever she tries.

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2015-06-11 - Thursday - Family dinner

Thursday we had a nice family dinner to celebrate Audey's graduation. Good times.

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2015-06-10 - Wednesday - Audrey's Graduation

Wednesday we were in PA for Audrey's high school graduation. It was a nice ceremony and the arena was at just about capacity. It's always nice to celebrate important occasions with family, so while it was a quick trip we all had a good time and enjoyed the events.

The last of the five cousins has graduated from high school. Time flies.

Ryan and Stephanie.

Unfortunately since we were sitting on the floor level
my camera had a hard time focusing with
the graduate's heads being in  the range.

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2015-05-09 - Saturday - Stephanie's Graduation

Been a long time. Let's catch up.
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On Saturday, May 9, 2015, Stephanie graduated from Western Carolina University.

It was glorious. We are very proud.

Stephanie is the first person in my family to get a college degree and it was the proudest day of my life. It was joyous. I teared up, but I had the biggest smile on my face that you can imagine.

Congratulations Stephanie! I'm sure you will continue to do great things.

Rich, Scott, and Karen.

Stephanie is in the purple and gold Batman hat.

On her way.

Happy.

Faculty.

Batman.

On her way up.

On the ramp.

On her way back.

"I did it!"

Very happy.

Brett and Stephanie.

Stephanie with her grandfather.

Posing.

Jennifer and Stephanie.

Pop-pop was worn out.

Meredith and Stephanie.

Views off the deck.

More view.

Even more view.

Sunset view.

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2015-05-08 - Friday - Stephanie's graduation preparation

Friday we all converged on Cullowhee, NC for Stephanie's graduation from Western Carolina University on Saturday. We gathered from Charlotte, Pennsylvania, and Florida. Some came by plane, some by car, and some by RV, but we all came to share the joy of Stephanie's accomplishment.

Friday was also Scott's 50th birthday so we had a cake and celebration for him. He likes lemoncello so we got him a lemoncello cake from Just Simply Delicious Cakes, Desserts, & Confections in Waynesville, and it was wonderful. Debi does all kinds of specialty cakes, too. Check out their website.

Everyone had a good time and things got a bit silly --as usual.

Relaxing after a long trip.

Stephanie has a balloon baby.

Yum... lemoncello.

The birthday boy.

One candle is all you need.

Horseplay is normal.

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2014-06-12 - Thursday - Graduation

On Thursday evening we attended Ryan's graduation ceremony.  He was one of over five hundred graduates so it took quite a while to get through the line and that was after all the speeches were made.

It's a joy to celebrate milestones with the people you care about.

Ryan is on the left center aisle, sixth row from the front.

There he is.

And while people are still filing in
we see his commentary on the proceedings.

Each photo was shown on the screens above the stage...

...while the graduate made their walk.

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