Lisa's Graduation

Lisa and Brad

Last Saturday we attended our daughter-in-law Lisa's graduation where she got her post-graduate degree from George Mason University. It was a wonderful celebration which we were delighted to be part of. There are a lot of photos in this post but I whittled down a lot as it was hard to decide which ones I should share.

We settled down in the auditorium waiting for the students to arrive. Gregg is sadly noticeably absent in all but the above as he was taking all the photos. A poor excuse but the time went by so quickly and I was apparently focused in every other direction, that I did not realize this until we got back home and started looking through the photos. The self-portrait above was taken by me. I should have gotten Gregg to take it as his arm is longer than mine and I have a giant head, a grimace and a double chin but hey, I'm not vain says she with a rye grin. As it is the only one we have with Gregg and he always has a lovely smile, it's in here.

There are a few photos that Brad took and a few that I took but most of them were taken by Gregg. Oh and I forgot to charge my pocket camera's battery thinking no problem, I have my cell phone which takes pretty decent photos. Except that when I looked inside my purse I had left the phone on the charger at home, thinking how well organized I was being at the time. I managed to take a few shots with my good old standby but then the battery ran out. Pfffffff.....rolling my eyes and shaking my head with a note, try not to run out of the house at lightning speed because you remember how awful the traffic was last time and you arrived 15 minutes late when Brad was graduating. Wouldn't you know it the traffic was light this time! Silver lining and this is for Gregg's benefit, at least I didn't take a tumble running down the stairs into the garage.We arrived half an hour ahead of the students.

Below is Lisa's Mom and Lisa's brother John, with his wife Kenzie sitting in the middle.

We were right behind them but sitting next to Lisa's Dad, so I took a photo of them talking.

A view of the opposite side and by this time the students were just about seated.

Arrow points to Lisa.

A closer one where she is sitting just off center to the left with pink sash around her neck. She is sitting next to one of her professors who has a floppy cap and a yellow tassle.

A little further away....and then my battery ran out. Over to Gregg.

Below at the podium is the President of the university. I thought the speeches were all excellent. Second left is Retired Admiral US Coastguard Thad Allen who gave the Commencement Address.

Outside with hundreds of others trying to connect with their graduate. Here's Brad looking for Lisa and I am looking in the other direction. Brad is always easy to spot as he is usually at least a head taller than the crowd. This has stood us all in good stead over the years.

No sign yet....
but we know she's on her way.

At last, here she is being greeted by her Mom and Dad.

It is an exciting time. I actually tried to delete that hand in Paint Shop Pro, the one that is growing out of Brad's head but try as I might I couldn't get it done without it looking horrible, so the hand stays. Lisa's brother's profile is on the right of the photo.

So very happy for her. All that hard work has paid off.

With brother John......

and now with John's wife Kenzie.

Happy.....

Happy.....

Happy.....

Happy.....

Time to get out of the sun and head for the trees where it was pleasantly cooler, at least a bit. It was the first hot and humid day of the year that I can think of, at least that we were out in. Above I was hoping that giving my camera a rest might allow me to take one more smidgen of a photo, but no joy there.

Gregg decided to take a few shots under the trees after he had gotten us all in the shade, so here's Lisa and Brad. By this time Brad has one heck of a bad headache. Gregg would say, "He is his mother's child." Of course when he's stubborn he's Gregg's child.....just kidding Gregg and Brad! Mother's have got to explain themselves clearly haven't they, especially if English with kind of a dry, quirky sense of humor anyway?

Brad, Lisa, John and Kenzie, four young people I am happy to call Family.

John and Kenzie are newly weds, only having gotten married a little while ago.

By this time we had arranged to meet the four of them over at one of the area restaurants for lunch and had separated for a brief spell. Gregg got very artsy and decided to take a picture of his ticket.....

and me.

Beforehand we had met up with Brad at our house and he drove us over in our car and was leaving with Lisa of course. When we left we forgot to ask for our car key back, so Gregg called him - what did we do before cell phones? Obviously not doing very well in the 'rememberer' department today. They were making their way over to another car park on the opposite end of the university but fortunately they hadn't gotten very far and came on back. As we spotted their arrival Gregg saw this as another photo op and took a few shots as they were walking over. By this time I was sticking my head in the car to start up the cold air.

They gave us our car key and we drove them over to theirs, then we met up for lunch along with Kenzie and John.

Lisa's Mom and Dad had had to go to a Bridal Shower of some very dear friends, so unfortunately they couldn't join us.....

but they very kindly invited us over in the evening where we enjoyed the company of other members of Lisa's family, her oldest brother and his wife, and their two young children. Lisa and Brad's nieces and nephews are all adorable but I didn't want to share their photos without the parents' knowledge. This is the only shot I have from the evening, Lisa's graduation cake.

Congratulations Lisa, way to go! The day you and Brad met was a very happy one for us.