GRADUATION!!!

Caution: The following entry is quite long and may not be of much interest to some - read at your own risk or leisure

Well, it has finally happened. We have finally graduated! I with my Bachelors of Science in Nursing and Dan with his AMAZINGED Double Bachelors of Arts degrees in Spanish and Political Science. That's right, double degrees. Not majors. Not minors. Degrees! He worked so hard (Averaging 18-23 credits a quarter) for them and got both degrees in the same amount of time it took me to do one - he's so smart! :O) It is a great feeling! WOW! I am using too many exclamation marks, but that is just how exciting it is!

We graduated on June 13th, 2008. It was a long day (considering we had 3 graduation ceremonies to do) but very memorable. The day started with my nursing school convocation. It was a GREAT ceremony with wonderful and funny speakers, awards, and it was VERY well organized. There were some memorable highlights for me:
- The First: My class lined up outside to enter the auditorium in a small court yard. In order to file through we ended up passing every single person in our class and someone started the "high five - good game" deal that kids do after YW volleyball or tee ball games. It was awesome!
- Another memory was that as we filed in all of our professors, administrators, clinical instructors and the rest of the school of nursing staff applauded us! There were so many of us and they looked at us and yet they applauded each of us so genuinely. The way they smiled and applauded me made me feel like I was the only person graduating that day!
- The dean gave an opportunity for the graduating students to stand up and applaud all of our family and friends who had supported us through school - I stood up and turned to see my wonderful husband, Parents (both birth and in-laws), and my grandparents. I even teared up as I realized how much they had helped me through the insanity of nursing school.

I snuck out of my graduation 5 minutes early to make it to Dan's first graduation. The Political Science convocation was definitely lacking in some organization and zeal, compared to the Nursing convocation, but was none-the-less an incredible moment! It was wonderful to hear his name called and to feel so much pride swell up in me. He has truly earned that degree and has grown and learned so much in the process. It has opened so many doors for him!

After that we spent time taking a few pictures...OK...a LOT of pictures. The ones above are only some of them (some of my favorites). Then we went to a restaurant in Bellevue called Maggianos and the food was incredible. We went all out and did the ultimate family style Italian lunch. The food that was brought to the table consisted of truly amazing food and as much of it as we could eat! We had stuffed mushrooms, bruschetta, Caesar salad, Maggiano's salad, Broccoli Fettuchini Alfredo, Mom's Lasagna, Chicken Parmesan, Chicken Marsala, then last but definitely not least - apple crostada and creme brulee...
Let me just say we ate ourselves silly!

Later that evening, after some window shopping with Mookie, we headed back to UW campus to attend Dan's last graduation ceremony for the Spanish department. It was extremely layed back, but very personal and enjoyable. They had the Lieutenant Governor of Washington State, a State Senator (the second most powerful politician in Washington State and the Consul General to Spain in attendance. The Senator spoke and she was very motivating. I spoke with her because she overheard Dan talking about how we are moving and that I just graduated in nursing (she used to be a nurse). Anyway, this graduation ceremony was much better than the Political Science one.

They had a potluck there with all kinds of authentic foods that...I HAD to try! Many of Dan's teachers were there and all of them expressed what a wonderful student he was. Being a VERY liberal department, Dan was seen as controversial in many ways, but through his ability to validly argue many points and not being afraid to stand up for what he believed in really made an impact on his teachers and peers and MANY expressed great respect for him that night. I am so proud of him!

The day ended well, and believe it or not with some milkshakes and fries (Dan told the lady at the drive thru that we had just graduated and she gave us large milkshakes for the price of a kid's size...and she said she was proud of us)!

Just one more thank you to all of our family and friends that supported, encouraged, and helped us through these last few years. We have been extremely blessed by your love! THANK YOU!