For the second year in a row I have spent my Mother's Day focused on one of my siblings instead spending the day being recognized as a mother. Last year my brother and now sister-in-law were married on Mother's Day, this year my sister had her commencement ceremony for grad school.
So Sunday morning I got up very early to get myself ready, then I got the kids up and ready while Dave got himself ready. Just a quick side note but why is it always us women that get the kids ready? Anyway by 9:30 we were out the door and in the car. We stopped at Tim Horton's and Dave and I got some breakfast, then at the gas station to fill the tank up. Finally we hit the road for the 2 hour drive south to Marietta.
Being the prepared organized person I am I knew we would be arriving at Marietta College just at lunch time and if you know anything about my kids you know that when they are hungry the loose their minds. So I packed a couple of drinks and lunchables for them to eat in the car and I am so glad I did that. I also packed their bookbags with their Leapstar II's, activity books, pens, stickers, and small snacks. Emma played with one of her activity books on the ride down while Ian slept. I actually had to wake Ian up so he would have enough time to eat.
Marietta is a very small town that literally sits on the Ohio River so Marietta College is not a large school therefore they only have one graduation each year and during that they allow all grad students set to graduate before the start of the fall quarter or semester (not sure which they are on) to participate in the ceremony. Steph will officially complete her program in July so this qualified her to be a part of the graduation. The part of this that kind of sucked was it meant that everyone that has completed there programs from last August till now was at this. We did get lucky and found a parking space fairly close to the building the ceremony was in.
By the time we got there my mom, brothers, sister-in-law, grandma, and great aunt were already there and had seat saved for us. As we were walking down the aisle to our seats i realized that the seats we were going to have to sit in were very tiny old wooden folden chairs that did not look comfortable at all. I was very right about that they were unbelievably uncomfortable. I really not sure how much time passed from the time we got to our seats till the ceremony started but it seemed like forever, thankfully the space between rows was large so the kids were able to walk back and forth between the family instead of being confined to their seats.
Finally the ceremony began and we realized we picked the right side to sit on because the brought the graduates in right beside our row which meant we got to see my sister walking in. The ceremony itself had the normal speeches from the Dean, president of the board of trustees, president of the alumni association, and then they had two very long speeches given by the 1st and 2nd place winners of a speech contest the school holds every year. There was also a presentation on the seniors gift to the school as well as the announcement of winners for all the awards being given out. Eventually they got to the commencement speaker who was F. Story Musgrave. Musgrave graduated from Marietta College back in the 60's and after obtaining a few more degrees from a few other schools he went on to join NASA. He is the only astronaut to have flown missions on all 5 of the spaceships. Dave and I both really enjoyed his speech to the students and found that it applied to anyone not just a college graduate. His main point was that sometimes in life you just have to follow your instinct and take a leap. He also said that sometimes those leaps are failures but that doesn't make you a failure. Lastly they handed out diploma's but first they hooded all the grad students.
So Sunday morning I got up very early to get myself ready, then I got the kids up and ready while Dave got himself ready. Just a quick side note but why is it always us women that get the kids ready? Anyway by 9:30 we were out the door and in the car. We stopped at Tim Horton's and Dave and I got some breakfast, then at the gas station to fill the tank up. Finally we hit the road for the 2 hour drive south to Marietta.
Being the prepared organized person I am I knew we would be arriving at Marietta College just at lunch time and if you know anything about my kids you know that when they are hungry the loose their minds. So I packed a couple of drinks and lunchables for them to eat in the car and I am so glad I did that. I also packed their bookbags with their Leapstar II's, activity books, pens, stickers, and small snacks. Emma played with one of her activity books on the ride down while Ian slept. I actually had to wake Ian up so he would have enough time to eat.
Marietta is a very small town that literally sits on the Ohio River so Marietta College is not a large school therefore they only have one graduation each year and during that they allow all grad students set to graduate before the start of the fall quarter or semester (not sure which they are on) to participate in the ceremony. Steph will officially complete her program in July so this qualified her to be a part of the graduation. The part of this that kind of sucked was it meant that everyone that has completed there programs from last August till now was at this. We did get lucky and found a parking space fairly close to the building the ceremony was in.
By the time we got there my mom, brothers, sister-in-law, grandma, and great aunt were already there and had seat saved for us. As we were walking down the aisle to our seats i realized that the seats we were going to have to sit in were very tiny old wooden folden chairs that did not look comfortable at all. I was very right about that they were unbelievably uncomfortable. I really not sure how much time passed from the time we got to our seats till the ceremony started but it seemed like forever, thankfully the space between rows was large so the kids were able to walk back and forth between the family instead of being confined to their seats.
Finally the ceremony began and we realized we picked the right side to sit on because the brought the graduates in right beside our row which meant we got to see my sister walking in. The ceremony itself had the normal speeches from the Dean, president of the board of trustees, president of the alumni association, and then they had two very long speeches given by the 1st and 2nd place winners of a speech contest the school holds every year. There was also a presentation on the seniors gift to the school as well as the announcement of winners for all the awards being given out. Eventually they got to the commencement speaker who was F. Story Musgrave. Musgrave graduated from Marietta College back in the 60's and after obtaining a few more degrees from a few other schools he went on to join NASA. He is the only astronaut to have flown missions on all 5 of the spaceships. Dave and I both really enjoyed his speech to the students and found that it applied to anyone not just a college graduate. His main point was that sometimes in life you just have to follow your instinct and take a leap. He also said that sometimes those leaps are failures but that doesn't make you a failure. Lastly they handed out diploma's but first they hooded all the grad students.
Steph walking across the stageI am a bit of an emotional person, ok maybe I'm alot emotional so of course I cried watching them place my sister hood on her but that didn't stop me from yelling loudly for her! :)
After the ceremony and the very long walk out of the building we made our way to the science building to meet up with Steph and take some pictures.
The Graduate
The Grad showing off her new hood
Steph and Me
KJ, Steph, Me, Nick
Mom, KJ, Steph, Me, Nick
KJ, Steph, Ian, Emma, Me, Dave, Alicia, Nick
Aunt Lois Ann, Grandma, Steph, Mom
Emma, Steph, IanAfter we headed to the parking lot where we were all parked and my grandma gave Steph her present. Both my sister, our great grandpa, and grandpa were born in February. At some point in my grandpa's life our great grandpa gave him a very large emerald cut amethyst. My grandma decided for Steph's present to have the ring reset into a pendent and it is so beautiful. I don't know what I was thinking but I didn't get a picture of it. Of course it made us girls cry. After saying good bye to Grandma and Aunt Lois Ann the rest of us headed back to Columbus. We knew that all the good restaurants in Marietta would be packed so we stopped around the half way point in Zainsville to have dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant that I can not remember the name of. The food was great and the atmosphere was really neat. For Mother's Day they had a man playing a guitar and signing who did a great job.
We were all so stuffed from the appetizers and main courses that we didn't order desert but by the time we got back into Columbus Dave was craving something sweet. Last week they opened a Cold Stone Creamery down the street from us so we stopped in there. It was outr first time and while we can't afford to get that all the time we will be going back for more.
So there it is my mother's day that was all about my little sis and her great big accomplishment. I am so proud of her and all she has done with her life in such a short time. It hasn't always been easy for her and I know there have been many times when she has wanted to just give up but she didn't and it has payed off so far.
P.S. I have told everyone that next year Mother's Day is all mine no matter what they have going on. I will be sleeping in!!! :)
3 comments:
Congrats to Steph on her big accomplishment! And you're one fantastic sister for donating another mother's day to the cause. :) Next year, your eyelids won't see 9 AM!
Congratulations to your sister! You have a beautiful family. You and your look a lot alike! Great photos!
Congrats to Steph...wow she has come a long way. Good for her and that was nice of you to give up your day for her.....at least you got to spend the day with your kids right? :)
Happy Mother's Day!
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