Throwback Thursday #52: Graduation

"It is indeed ironic that we spend our school days yearning to graduate and our remaining days waxing nostalgic about our school days." ~Isabel Waxman

I do not understand how 5 years can go by and feel like yesterday. I realized recently that I graduated from Oklahoma State 5 years ago this Saturday. FIVE YEARS? I still remember moving into the dorms the first day of school. I remember apartment hunting with College Roomie. I remember countless dinners at Animal House and nights at the Penny with those boys. I remember golf lessons with BFF. I remember bible study where I met SoulMate Friend. I remember bonding over business law with the Loud Oklahoma Girl and limees with the Blonde Oklahoma Girl. How 5 years has gone by is beyond me.

I thought I'd look back at graduation, which was a complete bittersweet experience for me.

For the first time, my family came to Stillwater to see the place where I had spent the last 3 years. Of course, we hit up Eskimo Joe's and toured the campus. My poor little brother, who was then 18, may have been woken up at 2:00 am to serve as a dd that evening.....he's a good kid! (Stay tuned next week for a recap of the last couple weeks of college....sheer chaos is probably the appropriate title!)

Then on Saturday graduation was upon us. The Animal House Boys, Captain and I met up at my house and headed over for the big event.

Missouri Lawyer came by for a little photo op as well!

Graduation was broken into two parts. The first was on the football field and we had our commencement address. We met at Library Lawn and marched, bagpipes and all to the stadium. This is me walking into the stadium....pretty exciting moment for this football fan to set foot on that field!

Did I mention that our commencement address was from then-President George Bush? Regardless of your political beliefs, I will tell you that it was pretty awesome to have the President speak at graduation. You can catch his speech here and here. This meant lots of added security and getting to see Marine One land at the practice football field next to the stadium. My dad and brother assure me that watching the snipers and secret service was their favorite part of graduation. About halfway through the ceremony, it started to rain. So what did we do? Be busted out panchos. What color? Orange, of course! This is one of my favorite pictures with the Governor and the Trailerpark Animal House Boys.
Then that afternoon was the actual graduation ceremony, held inside Gallagher-Iba Arena, where the individual colleges walked and we got our diplomas.

When the weekend wrapped up and we loaded my life up into my car and my mom's suburban, I didn't know what to do. I have never liked change, and this change required leaving my best friends and the happiest place on earth.

I stopped by to say goodbye to SoulMate Friend and the Animal House Boys. College Roomie went with me. I will never forget how hard it was to get into that car and pull out of the Animal House driveway headed west. It took everything in me not to turn back.

Graduation was the end of three of the very best years of my life. During those years I found out who I was and made the best friends that a girl could ever ask for. And I joined a family who bleeds orange. You just can't beat that!