We Graduated!!!! (Well...Almost)

Friday was the big day: Shannon and I graduated! Shannon's mom and stepdad made the 10-hour drive from Alabama to be a part of our day. We met them for breakfast at their hotel, brought them up to school for graduation, and then after taking lots of pictures we all went out for lunch at a local Lebanese place. Then it was home to take naps and recooperate before heading to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner and dessert. Then goodbyes were said, at least for 2 weeks until we see them in Hawaii!

I can't even begin to explain how wonderful it feels to know that I don't have thousands of pages of reading to do, or dozens of papers to write. I'm so...relaxed. :-) Today I dusted our filthy apartment. It had been accumulating dust for about two months, since right before we left for Turkmenistan. But I just hadn't had time to clean. All the schoolwork just seemed more important. But today, the apartment is clean. It's wonderful.



Biggest shock of Shannon's life: opening his diploma cover to discover that they really don't give it to you until you've finished all your classes. I guess they'll mail it to him this summer after he's completed his independent study.


Showing off our cool hoods.


At the celebratory dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, which I had never been to. Thanks, Sharon and Milton, for the great dinner and fabulous cheesecake!

As I type, Rachel and Lucas are driving over from Greensboro to spend the evening with us in celebration. I bought a watermelon and made homemade hummus for snacks, and we may go to Red Robin for a burger or something for dinner. I mean, it is Memorial Day. You have to eat burgers and such, right? Then I think we'll play a game or two of Catan before saying goodnight and settling into our clean apartment and clean sheets for a good night's sleep before work starts again tomorrow. I think we'll survive though...only 8 more workdays until we have two weeks off and are headed to gorgeous Hawaii for vacation! We can't wait.