The Graduate

Me and Kyle
(no, I'm not sleepy--it was an ill-timed blink)

That would be me! And quite a few of my friends, too. Graduation weekend has come and gone and what the frenzied time it was.

The rest of my family: dad, his girlfriend, her kids, and Kyle came in Friday and provided quite the cheering section at graduation. After the ceremony, which I thought was pretty good, we headed out to our dinner spot and indulged in a few pre-dinner celebratory cocktails. It was also my dad's birthday and grandma special ordered an amazing cake--seriously, one of the tastiest treats I've had in a long time. Ah, family. We had a good time.

There was an abundance of activity Saturday as the fam rushed around in final preparations for the graduation party Saturday night. Jillene (my dad's girlfriend) and her sister went above and beyond in the planning of this party and it was a truly beautiful event. Unfortunately, it felt as if my family was gone before I even realized they were here. I miss them already.

So now I'm a graduate. Life doesn't feel much different, but I'm sure everything will hit me at some random moment in the next few weeks when I suddenly realize that friends have gone away and I'm working an 8 to 4 job. Yes, I accepted the job. BUT that doesn't mean that I'm not doing the PhD thing. I have faith that everything will fall into place in due time. In the mean time, while I'm trying to adjust to no homework, no classes, few friends, and a commute, I'll be buying a new mountain bike with some graduation money, revamping my (previously nonexistant) work wardrobe, and patiently waiting for Kyle to finish his first year of med school. How much am I looking forward to the summer? ;-)

There will be actual graduation pics soon, but here are a few from the party:

Kyle and some of the fam

Josh and his great grandpa out for a walk

Some of the party guests