Our Graduation Day "Adventure"...

Today was Caitlin's graduation from college.  It marked the last graduation (bachelor's degree) of our four children.  Everyone was excited as we made plans to stay at the lake house, which was an hour closer to the university she attended in East Texas.  BUT...as they say, "The best laid plans tend to go awry often times".  Today was one of those days!

When I have a big event planned, I always worry about not getting there on time.  I will calculate the amount of time it will take for me to get ready and then the amount of time it will take to get there...EARLY.  For this fourth and final graduation day, I did not want to be late or heaven forbid have a flat tire or some other car trouble on the way there.  Therefore, I made sure that Robby set the clock for 6 a.m. since the graduation was at 10:30.. If we left at 8 then we should be there in plenty of time; actually we should have time to spare.

We got on the road on time and began our caravan toward Texas.  I was reading on my Kindle and Robby was talking on the phone, while Sarah was listening to her i-pod and Parker Ann slept most of the way there.  Once Robby hung up with his telephone call, he started talking to us when suddenly we caught sight of a sign that signaled we were almost in Longview...LONGVIEW?!  OH MY GOSH!!!  In all of our talking, we had passed Marshall up by OVER 30 MILES!  A quick glance at the time told us that we were in danger of being LATE for the graduation.  Well CRAP; another adventure...

The decision had to be made fast; turn around on the highway at the next exit (my choice...) or take the route that the GPS was calculating (a route I wasn't sure about...).  We turned around on the highway and headed back toward Marshall, checking the time...there was NO WAY we were going to make it there for the processional.  Robby put the pedal to the medal and to be honest, I don't really know how fast we were going.  At one point there was a "Left Lane Hero" (as the boys like to call people who just ride in that passing lane...) that got in our way; Robby was laying on the horn while I was afraid we were about to hook onto their bumper with our vehicle.  We finally got around them and continued to race on toward our destination.  I told Robby I hoped he didn't get pulled over because I didn't have time for that; he would just have to keep driving and when we got there I would jump out of the car, tell him to write the ticket and leave it on the window...I WAS NOT MISSING THIS GRADUATION!

Fortunately, we did not get stopped (whew!...).  David met us at the door and as I raced inside, I noticed that there was a crowd of people in the foyer; we were only a few minutes late, maybe the graduates had not gone in yet.  I followed the crowd in to where the rest of the family was saving seats for us and found that indeed we had missed the processional.  As we got settled into our seats, Robby leaned over and said, "It's always an adventure with me."  I replied by saying, "And you thought I might one day run out of material to write about?"

As the graduation ceremony finished up and the music began to swell,  the graduates filed out of the room.  I looked over at Robby to see tears welling up in his eyes.  I decided not to mention it, but as we were walking out, he did.  He looked at me and said, "Our last child has just graduated from college and I was thinking about the wedding.  I'm definitely not going to be able to make it through that day."  He had started counting down the weeks and realized that as we marked one event off of our May calendar, it only moved us closer to the "Big Day"; it was 3 weeks from today.  I don't doubt that day will be emotional for him and all of us for that matter.  I immediately decided to take up my "Scarlett Attitude" once again..."I would just think about that another day..."

                               Everyone was able to make the graduation except Ryan and my mother.

                                                         Robby and me with Caitlin

                                                 Caitlin with her Mimi and Papa

                                              Caitlin with my sister and her husband

                                                Parker Ann made the graduation too!

                                                               Caitlin and Kevin

CONGRATULATIONS, Caitlin for graduating MAGNA CUM LAUDE with a major in BUSINESS and a minor in POLITICAL SCIENCE!