Graduation Day

This weekend I graduated from law school.  Or I guess I should said, this weekend was my law school graduation.  I can't say I graduated until all grades are in (something which was pointed out about half a dozen times during the ceremony).  As far as graduations go, this was a good one.  And I'm not just saying that because it was mine. 

First was our entrance.  The graduation ceremony was held in a local church (which is absolutely beautiful!), with the actual ceremony in the sanctuary.  They had the graduates get ready in the room the furthest from the sanctuary, which I didn't understand until after we started our walk towards the sanctuary.  All our professors and deans had lined the hallways dressed in their robes and applauded and cheered as we walked through the tunnel they formed.  By far the coolest thing ever (at least as far as graduations go).  One of the great things about going to a small school is that you get to know the professors and they get to know you.  I got so many congratulations by name from my professors.  That was cool.

Second was the actual ceremony.  It was funny, it was poignant, it was short.  We got some good advice from the dean and guest speaker, and we got some good laughs from our class representative.  Everybody got hooded, no names were butchered, and hundreds of pictures were taken.  And it all took an hour and a half.  Another great thing about graduating from a small school is that you don't have to sit through a 4-hour ceremony for the 15 seconds that you actually care about.  Afterwards, the graduates headed outside for the class picture, and I joked around with the dean as he tried find a spot where he wasn't blocking any of us short people on the front row.  Refreshments and more pictures followed as we all hung around the courtyard with family and friends.

The rest of the day was also great as I got to hang out with my family.  We smiled at my niece's giggles as she was raised high into the air by my brother over and over, and then laughed as my brother realized he had broken a sweat and was too tired to pick her up anymore.  We headed to dinner at this small local Italian restaurant that has the best bread ever and enjoyed a nice family dinner with lots of great conversation.  I had plans to meet up with friends later that night, but was so tired after all the activities that I fell asleep on the couch around 8:00 p.m.!!

While I'm not technically a lawyer yet, this was a big step in getting there.  Keep your fingers crossed that all my grades come back somewhere above a D- and I can pick up my actually diploma soon.