College Graduation

On a warm Spring day three years ago tomorrow, I graduated from college. This was a bittersweet day for a few reasons.
*Back story: I hated college.  I wasn't the biggest fan of school in general.  (I know, I became a teacher). When my grandmother passed away, while we were waiting for the funeral home to come pick her up, I promised her I would finish college and I'd do it for her.

While I was waiting to go into the arena with my fellow College of Education graduates, I took masking tape and wrote "For Amie" on my mortarboard.  No one in my family knew I was going to do this, so they were all taken aback by my message. I really, really missed my grandmother that day and I knew she would have been SO proud of me for finishing school.

Since we graduated in alphabetical order by college, my college had a few in front of us, plus the Master's candidates.  After the Master's candidates graduated, they left, which I found very rude.  I felt as if everyone should have stayed until the entire ceremony was over out of respect for the fellow graduates.  After my college walked across the stage and returned to our seats, I noticed even more graduates had left.  I remarked to those around me how rude it was to leave and be so disruptive before the ceremony was finished.  Little did I know, I was about to eat my words.

About 10 minutes after I returned to my seat, my cell phone vibrated.  I had my phone so that my family could text me where they were sitting and so we could find each other after the ceremony.  The message said "come find us".  I looked up to where they had been sitting and there was no one there.  So I texted back "why?! that's rude to leave just because i've already graduated. y'all are no better than everyone else that has left." I was PISSED! I figured I'd just continue sitting there until it was over, but then various family members continued texting me.  The messages became more and more urgent.  When I got to the lobby and met up with my family, I found out what the hurry was all about. 

One of my aunts had flown to Florida for my graduation, leaving behind her husband, son and daughter.  My cousin had a baseball tournament that weekend and since my uncle was a coach, they decided to just keep my other cousin with them.  On the way home from the tournament, they were involved in a very bad car accident and were all taken to the hospital.  My aunt was understandably shaken and needed to make phone calls.  Everyone was wanted to support her, so it was just easier to leave the arena.

After taking pictures and verifying that my uncle and cousins were going to be alright (my uncle's parents live in Mississippi and were able to go to the hospital), we headed to the Embassy Suites where my parents were hosting a graduation party and dinner for me.  All of my mom's siblings came, along with my my third cousin Leona.  It was a very nice affair and all of my family members gave me items that helped me begin my teaching career.