Andrew’s Graduation

Andrew graduated with his masters from Purdue this weekend. My family came out to join in the festivities, arriving Friday night. We all got up early Saturday morning so we could be out the door by 7:50am. Once we parked we spent a few minutes arranging Andrew’s robes and hood.

Andrew left to go hang out with all the other graduates while the rest of us went to find our seats.  Emily, my mom, and I left the auditorium once we had our seats and wandered around the different floors and explored the balcony from 8:30-9:20.  Emily had lots of fun running around and spinning. She loved listening to the organ prelude music and kept asking grandma to lift her up to see the organist while we were on the second balcony. Emily was really really really wanted to see daddy, and she talked about that for the next four hours.

We got settled into our seats just as the graduates entered the auditorium. Andrew was one of the very last to enter so we waited a long time and looked very closely at everyone walking into the room for twenty minutes. He looked very official. Christine snuck down the aisle to get a close up.

The first 45 minutes of graduation was a good mix of speakers and music, which kept Emily’s (and our) attention. Once the PhD candidates began walking across the stage it took a little bit more effort to stay focused. The entire walking across the stage process for PhD candidates, masters candidates, and undergraduates lasted about two hours. It was all worth it for the moment we watched Andrew walk up on stage, receive his diploma, and shake President Daniels (Purdue’s president) hand. I asked Andrew later what President Daniels said to him: he likes his name and thinks he should stay on the $20.

When there was clapping, Emily would clap enthusiastically and shout “yay yay yay!” until the clapping stopped. When it was time to be quiet, she looked at a search and find book I brought, ate apple slices, and drew. She spent most of the time on Christine’s lap, which turned out to be quite the sacrifice when she got off; her diaper leaked all over Christine’s dress. Oops.

Emily made it all the way until noon before she declared she was “DONE DONE DONE”, at which point my mom quickly took her out of the auditorium for the last fifteen minutes. Andrew came and joined us as soon as the ceremony was over. He picked Emily up and we headed out of the building as quickly as we could and snapped a few family pictures.

Andrew showed Grandpa Moose her awesome downwards dog trick.

We went to O’Charley’s for lunch to celebrate Andrew’s graduation.  Christine was a great sport when Emily added some spilled milk to her dress.

We all came home and slept for a few hours and then headed to the park in hopes of slack lining.  It turned out to be a really busy evening with no free trees, so we played on the playground a bit and went on a short walk. We ended our adventures with frozen yogurt for dinner. We stayed up too late talking, knowing it was our last chance to hang out before Derick and Brian head out west.

It was a great weekend with family, celebrating Andrew’s incredible accomplishment. Now bring on the PhD!