He graduated

Rain threatened, then a fine mist offered a compromise as the graduates marched. Our son didn't take it all too seriously; he mugged for our cameras and refused to stand still for the formal our-son-the-graduate pose, so we did the best we could, and this is as good as it gets. He didn't wear a tie, silly me, I forget to suggest that he should, and he wore sneakers, much to his cousin's chagrin, but really, I didn't care about any of that, because there was my boy, smiling, happy, not a care in the wind, the graduate.

It went off without a hitch, and with many hitches, it all depends on how you choose to look at it, and in the end, he picked up his degree and we went to dinner as a family, nine of us in all, and the next morning we packed his stuff in the car, which was already stuffed with his sister's gear, and his dad and himself will have to drive back up next weekend for the rest of it.

He graduated. We celebrated. It was so very good. My heart is full. And I also got the flu, but that didn't dampen a thing. So now I'm home, shivery and clammy and serene. My husband is back at work, my daughter is in the kitchen baking a vanilla marscapone blackberry cake with many many steps, my niece is helping her, my son is somewhere on the road driving the young woman who used to be his girlfriend home from college, and I am keeping myself quiet, grateful for all of it. It happened.

I will do another post with more candid snaps but for now, here are some pictures we did manage to get of our graduate in full or partial regalia.

With family

With his godmothers (my sister-cousins)

With some friends