Gradulation!

There are certain moments in life that are seared on your memory. This will forever be one of mine:

The smile. The wave. The girls yelling, “Daddy! Daddy!” The tears filling my eyes.

Monday morning was Josh’s last final. He left the house a little after 5:00 a.m. to go to the school and study for his exam, which was at 3:00 in the afternoon. I sent him a message when we woke up at 7:00 a.m. to wish him well with his studying. The response I received was, “Pray for me, the final is at 9!” I’m pretty sure that is a scene straight from a bad dream, but, unfortunately, it was our reality just then. The stress came through loud and clear in Josh’s text and I know my blood pressure skyrocketed. Josh had settled in to study at the school and then had a strong impression to check the time and location of the exam. When he did so he learned that his final was at 9:00 a.m. rather than 3:00 p.m. He immediately sent an email to his professor begging for mercy and then started cramming wildly. The professor was amazingly kind and found a room where Josh could take the exam later in the day. I’m pretty sure that is not a normal thing for a Wharton professor to do, but oh how grateful we are for his kindness.

★ Tender Mercy #1 - The impression to check the time of the exam.

★ Tender mercy #2 - An accommodating professor.

★ Tender Mercy #3 - Josh did very well on all of his exams, including this one.

Tuesday morning I left Josh with the girls and went out with my friend, Lori. We went shopping at Nordstrom Rack (we only had time for one stop before we had to get back to Mom duties) and had a grand time. Classic quote from Lori, “Look at us! I make duck confit and you wear ruffles!” I came home with a pair of skinny jeans, some shirts to layer, a shrug, ballet slipper shoes, dangly ear rings, a non-functional belt and a few other things including a big smile and some great memories. We were meant to be together!

Mom arrived late Tuesday night, the first of our graduation guests. From that moment on we packed it in! When your vacation is the shortest on record, you have to make the most of every moment. Our activities were a strange combination of spending time together as a family, checking things off our list, entertaining guests, getting in one last trip to our favorite Philly haunts, relishing the moment, and preparing for the next step.

Spending Time Together as a Family

Once finals were over, we saw a relaxed Josh that we haven’t seen for a while. The girls were loving having their Daddy around. There were wrestling matches galore, pretend Indian games with Dad as Powhatan or Shang, and Dad games like swinging from the tree in front of our house. We took the girls to ride bikes in the Azaela garden. Kate wanted to “knock Grandma’s socks off” by showing her how well she can ride a real bike. Josh and I got to go out on a date thanks to Mom offering to watch our girls. We went out to eat hamburgers, milk shakes, and sweet potato fries and then went to a movie in one of the Center City theaters that I love.

Checking Things Off Our List

We took our car in to be repaired for all the parking by braille damages and less than brilliant Sunny driving moves. With finals and everything else on our plate we didn’t do the best job of following up with the shop. Our rental car was meeting our needs just fine until our guests started arriving. We had to play taxi, or maybe Mexican chicken bus is a better description, when we picked up Alan and Dad from the airport. All the bags and Kate’s car seat were crammed in the trunk. Jane, asleep in her car seat, Mom, Dad, and Kate were jammed in the back seat sharing seat belts. Josh was driving and Alan and I shared the passenger seat, we didn’t even bother with seat belts. Suddenly getting our car back rocketed to the top of our To Do List.

Josh spent some time at the school sorting through piles of notes, saying goodbye to professors and friends, picking up his graduation robes

Entertaining Guests

We had a house full of guests by the end of the week. Grandpa Woodford, Grandma Shelly, Grandpa Larry, and Uncle Alan all made a big effort to come out for graduation. It meant a lot to Josh and me to have everyone make the journey to be here. We were packed in to our house, especially when it came to sleeping arrangements. Other than having to sign up for shower and bathroom time things worked out remarkably well. Everyone was wonderfully flexible! Robert found vibrating toys and plastic fireflies in his bed, Larry spent hours telling Red Feather stories, Alan saved the day in the kitchen, and Michele was everywhere when I needed my Mom. We weren’t the tour guides we usually are, but we had a great time being together. The girls were in heaven with some extra attention and new playmates. We all loved having family around again and, as usual, stayed up far too late talking, laughing and playing games.

Lasts

Kate had her last day of preschool with her beloved friend Makenna. We did a shortened version of the reading, writing, and math lessons and then watched a slideshow of pictures from the last two years. Asialene and I were crying. Kate and Makenna and Jane were dancing.

Josh had his “Final Friday” at school as well. He was gone all day and came out wearing a cowboy when I picked him up. I think it was good for him to have a chance to see everyone and be at the school after the stress had passed and the party atmosphere was in full swing.

We made a trip to Longwood Gardens to see the Spring flowers and say goodbye to one of our favorite places in Philly. The tulips were fading, but the wisteria was amazing. Josh spent at least a half an hour at the edge of a pond with the girls watching bullfrogs. The girls talked Grandma into buying flower cookies and we all enjoyed a bowl of mushroom soup.

The evening Alan and Dad arrived we walked from our house down through Center City. I took my camera and drove everyone crazy by taking pictures of absolutely everything. Somehow knowing this was the last time we would make that walk, I felt the need to document every moment. We walked until we came to Josh’s favorite Philly Cheesesteak joint, Jim’s, for one last steak run--4 steaks wiz wit and 4 Birch Beers. We headed for home just as it was getting dark and all the city lights started shining. It was the perfect Say Goodbye to Philly evening, made even better by gelato from Capogiro.

Food seemed to be a big part of Josh’s lasts in Philly. In addition to the steaks and gelato, we had to get pastrami sandwiches from Reading Terminal Market. We also went out for a celebratory dinner at Figs, the restaurant just across the street from our house. That was Saturday evening, after all our guests had arrived in town. We got a babysitter for the girls, invited Jinhee and Wonjoon, our dear friends from South Korea, and walked across the street for an perfectly relaxed, perfectly delicious meal to celebrate graduation. Our last trip to another of our favorite places in Philly.

Relishing the Moment

On our tense Monday afternoon waiting to hear the outcome of Josh’s final exam drama the girls and I made him a banner. I cut out letters to spell “Congratulations Joshua” and let the girls loose with paint on the banner paper. They had the time of their lives. I just kept reminding myself that it was washable paint and let them at it. The banner turned out really cute. It helped the girls to understand what all the hullabaloo was about. Kate coined a new word: Gradulation! It’s a combination of graduation and congratulations and seemed to fit the event perfectly.

A good portion of time between finals and graduation was spent in preparation for the American Indian birthday party for the girls. We decided to celebrate their birthdays together and use it as a chance to gather together all our friends one last time before we part ways. Because Josh’s start date was bumped up we had to have the party the same weekend as graduation. I knew it would be a horribly busy time for everyone with family coming into town and moving preparations in full swing, but we sent out invitations anyway hoping that at least half of those invited could attend. Well, it turned out that almost everyone was able to attend! We ended up making 27 indian headbands, 27 indian pouches, and cupcakes and snacks for 50.

Saturday there was a 30% chance of rain and we were planning on holding the party in the park. After all that preparation there was no chance of canceling the party! It started drizzling a bit as we were setting up. I just started praying harder.

The party was a huge success. Kate and Jane were in heaven. They were wearing their Indian dresses with feathers in their hair and war paint on their faces as their friends began to arrive. Both girls would run down the hill saying, “wingapo! wingapo! wingapo!” whenever a new car pulled up. The kids all got their own headband and feathers. Alan would paint their faces and arms. He started off with lines and simple shapes and was doing pink ponies by the end. We had a nature scavenger hunt for the kids to do with their parents and gave each child a little felt Indian pouch in which to put their treasures. There was a craft table where the kids could make rainsticks. Then we had two buttercream frosted owl cakes, veggies and humus, and chips and salsa for everyone to enjoy.

Thanks to the help of Mom, Dad, Alan, and Josh we pulled it all together. Each of us had a job. Grandpa Larry was the photographer. Grandma Shelly saved the day at the craft table. Uncle Alan was the face painter. Josh was in charge of making sure everyone felt like he/she was the guest of honor. And the girls were the greeting committee. I never could have made it through without five “me”s, so I am grateful for all of the help in making things a success.

Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. After an hour and 45 minutes the sky opened up and it started to pour, East Coast style! The party came to an abrupt end as the guests ran to their cars. We lost the cupcakes, the craft supplies, and the face paint. It was literally raining so hard all we could do was gather stuff up and put it in the trash can. We were soaked through, but had the memory of a great party to keep us smiling.

Later that evening we presented the girls with a tipi, handmade with love by Grandma Shelly. It was an instant hit. The girls ran inside and Kate only popped her head out to say, “Mom, we are going to live in the tipi now so you’ll have to bring us food every day and hand it to us through the door.” This was said in all sincerity. She literally thought from that moment on she would be a permanent resident of the tipi. Later in the evening, Jane came running to the top of the stairs. She yelled down, “Best day ever!” It was rather chaotic down below and not many people seemed to be listening to her, but she caught the eye of Uncle Alan and said raising her arm, “How, Alan.” Alan responded, “How, Jane.” and she immediately turned to run back to the tipi.

Graduation day was rainy again, or at least it was supposed to be. They had to move the ceremony inside. We walked over to campus, so we wouldn’t have to battle parking. It ended up being a really fun walk up the river path. The ceremony was hot and long, but that one moment where Josh was walking in and turned to wave was all I needed. The girls were troopers. About 3/4 of the way through Kate whispered to me, “I thought graduation was going to be more exciting.”

After the ceremony we walked through the campus to Hunstman Hall. After a few pictures, Josh got on his scooter in full regalia and rode home, robes billowing behind him. He said people honked and shouted congratulations as he drove. When he pulled onto our street the neighbors and people who were eating at Figs applauded.

Preparing for the next step

We were so into relishing the moment we didn’t spend too much time thinking about the fact that Josh would be in Texas in less than 24 hours. After graduation, after an incredible meal of turkey like you have never tasted turkey, gravy like you have never tasted gravy, sweet potatoes, asparagus, whole wheat bread, and mint chocolate layer cake like you have never tasted layer cake, and after a final game night Josh finally decided to pack for Dallas. He would pile up the things he needed and I would fold them up and get them in a suitcase. We finished packing at 3:00 a.m. We had to leave for the airport at 4:30.

There you have it. Josh is a Wharton graduate. He is employed and he’s in Texas. Kate is 5. Jane is 3. We still have a house to pack, but I have the best help imaginable. Let the new adventures come.