Graduation

We have been back from Utah for four days now, and I am just feeling like I'm catching up with life. (Or is it catching up with me?) Why does any change in the daily schedule exhaust me so? I must be getting old.

The graduation was everything we wanted it to be and more. Our daughter glowed as she walked across the stage to receive her diploma, lifting a fist in a triumphal wave to the crowd. It was a moment to warm the heart and wet the cheeks of any parent. Oh, how I appreciated being there to see it!

There were actually two graduation ceremonies for us to attend, the commencement for the entire university on Thursday afternoon and the separate college convocation on Friday morning. With over six thousand graduates, you can imagine how crowded the commencement was. We had good seats, however, albeit behind the podium. And I thought I was safe from fragrance until two boys sat down behind us. PHEW! But we had a whole row for our family, so I was able to move to the other end, and, with the help of my "I Can Breathe!" mask, I made it through most of the program. Near the end, when two little grandsons were getting restless, I offered to take them outside for a badly needed breath of fresh air.

At the convocation on Friday morning, there were less than half as many people, and no one sitting near us with heavy scents, so I survived without the mask. A couple of trips out with the same two grandsons helped too, of course. The weather was beautiful for taking pictures, the trees all in bloom and tulips and daffodils everywhere. And oh, the warmth. I wanted to just wrap it up and bring it home. It has snowed here every day this week, but the memories of this experience will keep up warm for many days to come.