Pomp and Circumstance

I am sitting down and tapping away on the keyboard and feeling amazed by how rapid the four years of Yam's college experience has passed by. I can hardly believe that she is now a graduate of Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU). It seems as if just the other day she was graduating from high school.

Yam graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Art (concentration in Graphic Design) and an Interdisciplinary Studies minor. The commencement ceremony was held on Saturday, May 4th at 2:00 PM.

The whole family (on The Colonel's side) attended the commencement ceremony. Spud had come home a couple of days earlier via a Greyhound bus from Jacksonville (he is attending summer school at the University of North Florida), Darling-Sister-In-Law had come into town the night before and My-Favorite-Father/Mother-In-Law had come from across town. We all piled in one vehicle and made the 45 minute trip south.

The ceremony was being held in the Alico Arena on FGCU's campus. Each graduate was allowed six tickets for family members to attend (thank God The Colonel has such a small family and Yam has only one sibling). We arrived early at the arena and stood near the locked doors to ensure a quick entry once the doors were opened at 1:00 PM. Darling-Sister-In-Law and I made quick work of finding good seats once the doors were flung open. We sat left of the stage and slightly elevated. We would be able to see Yam clearly as she walked across the stage.

The graduates began to fill the arena and we all kept our eyes peeled for a glimpse of Yam in her cap and gown.

We saw her and she eventually saw us. I was impressed with the brevity of all the speeches that were made and the timely fashion in which the nearly 700 graduates crossed the stage.

Darling-Sister-In-Law and I were snapping away with our cameras. Between the two of us it was difficult to get some really good pictures of the ceremony. The indoor lighting was not conducive to fantastic photos (thank God that there was a professional photographer there so that I could and did purchase a good photo of Yam as she crossed the stage and received her diploma).

 The happy and proud graduate!

The Colonel had a perfectly wonderful idea to take photos of Yam after we had dinner so that everyone would be gone from the area we wanted to use as a backdrop. One of Yam's best friends, Danielle, had dinner with us and later took the family photo for us.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR COLLEGE GRADUATE.

WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!