When I defended my dissertation and was officially done with my Ph.D., I wondered if I cared about walking at graduation. Then I realized that this would only happen once for me ever. We went down on Friday and went out to lunch at a yummy place called Eat on Fremonton street, and then we went to a graduate college reception with jolly Dr. Erwin while Shaye's sister Stefanie watched the kids in the Centennial Hills part of town. It was a fun reception and they gave us some cool tassels, aka academic bling.
That evening we played at the Mandalay Bay beach, ate a yummy pizza dinner, and then strolled around the Forum Shoppes. I would be lying if I said that I love Vegas. It's just not my cup of tea at all, but it can be diverting for an evening. The kids were fairly good, but then when it came for bedtime, Hudson wasn't having it. He was restless for hours and I was trying so hard to keep him quiet. I finally huffed out around 12:30 a.m. and started pushing Hudson around the hotel in his stroller. He zonked out in less than 5 minutes, to my intense relief. We were tired the next day, but we spent some time at the container park while the Tesla charged.
Commencement was a wonderful occasion, but I had no idea that it would be so huge. There were so many grads that I think it took 25 minutes for people just to file in. I sat with Dr. Erwin the whole time, and he really is just such a kind man. He essentially saved my doctorate career, and I'll always owe so much to him because of that. I started to feel very excited about the actual hooding because it represents the graduate making a transition between student to colleague.
Through the beginning of the commencement, we texted back and forth. I knew these guys were dying with the kiddos. I decided early on that my professors and me would sneak out a side door after the hooding so that my family could leave and avoid a 3 or 4 hour long ceremony. The kids even got ticked about the introductory speakers. A student was being given some sort of honor and Emme yelled, "My mom's a doctor! Not you!!" My parents thought that was pretty funny.
It was a great moment to get hooded. My parents said Emme yelled, "That's my mom! My mom's a doctor!" when she saw me on the Jumbotron. (And yes, I just took screen shots of these pictures and decided to live with the water marks on them. This company wanted $120 per photo for digital rights!) After the hooding, I left with Dr. Erwin and Dr. Revell. I felt a little guilty about it because they asked us to stay, but I just kept picturing Shaye losing his sanity, and I knew I had to.
It was so fun meeting everyone outside, and Dr. Erwin even got to meet everyone. Just seeing how proud everyone was meant so much. I mean, Shaye was exhausted from the kids, but he was more congratulatory later. :) We stopped at Shake Shack before we went out of town. Hudson slept through that, but Emme spilled 2 cups of water while we ate, one all over my mom. Needless to say, we were more than ready to come home. I love traveling and I love my kids--the combination, not so much. Not even for a night. However, after a few weeks, I mostly remember the fun and not the stress.
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