Keeping It Going in Alabama: Graduation Weekend. Part I Banquet

Monday, May 11, 2009

Graduation Weekend. Part I Banquet

The long-awaited graduation weekend has come and gone, and it was worth the wait. It all began with the arrival of these beautiful Mother's Day tulips from Emily and Ryan.

Frankly, with all the planning and communication back and forth and planning who was to send Emily flowers and when and how and being excited over finals being over and when everyone would arrive in Mobile, the idea of Mother's Day had kind of gone over my head. So when this bouquet arrived, I just assumed it was for Em and that someone had wanted me to carry it to Mobile. Once I recovered from dropping the vase on my foot and found the card (with Mama hovering and offering suggestions and guessing who they were from), I realized they were for ME! They are so pretty. I was planning to be gone for 3 days, so they went with me and decorated the hotel room and were enjoyed thoroughly.

The ride down was enjoyable. I had planned to have blood work done on the way to check my vitamin D level, but it was crowded, and I was ready to be there, so I fasted for no reason, except to save my appetite for the banquet. As it turned out we were too busy for lunch (2 separate shopping trips and 1 prolonged pedicure session), so I pretty much fasted until 7:30 or so that night. Too bad the dinner at the banquet was not worth all that waiting: A piece of fancy chicken on a bed of potatoes and about 6 green beans, but I pretty much cleaned my plate. I have to include this picture of Emily the vegetarian dispensing with her chicken. Note non-vegetarian Ryan's pleased expression.

(All my pictures were consistently blurry no matter who used the camera, but I'm hoping others will send me some nicer ones.)

Our table was very sophisticated. Chris doesn't eat greens, so he passed someone else his salad and beans. I shared my bread with Mike. Mike gave Ryan most of his chicken. There were more serious exchanges carried out that I probably missed. Sandra and I guarded our plates and shared nothing except bread.

The most important part of the night was the hooding ceremony where the graduates receive their "hood," but it actually looks like a cape. This was taken after graduation the next day. It looks a lot better with the robe instead of a sundress.

We're still hoping for some clearer pictures of the hooding, but in this one. Dr. Fell's cap/hat is showing above Emily's head, and that's his arms putting the hood over her head. You can tell how serious a ceremony it was by the big grin on the face of Dr. Irion and both of them laughing in the second picture. It kind of looks like the creation of a new class of vampires.

After the hooding, the class presented their gift to the PT Department - Mr. Flexible. Emily and Karen rolled him out covered in a sheet. He was not prone to being cooperative - hence the name Mr. Flexible. Here's the unveiling.

I kind of wondered how they managed to graduate without a skeleton, but I was told this is a special kind of skeleton - a shade more debonair than most!

Using his off-duty time to wave to the neighbors.

During the awards ceremony, Emily received the Neurology Intervention Excellence Award. I believe she was surprised, since she asked, "Are you sure?" when receiving the award. Here she is, having warmed up a little to it.