Graduation Celebration

I graduated from grad school on Saturday, the thought of which is still a little surreal for me. It was a crazy, chaotic weekend with all of my family in town, but I had a great time. My parents and grandmother drove in on Friday night, and it was nice to get some alone-time with them. The next day, Brendan's parents, my uncle, and my other grandmother arrived in time for my graduation ceremony. It wasn't very hot that day (of which I'm thankful, because polyester robes don't exactly breathe very well), so I was able to hang out in the mall area with the M.A. grads and some English professors. My whole family ate at the Home Place that night, and the food was delicious as usual. Overall it was a great weekend, and I'm glad that so many people I love could be there.

It still hasn't sunk in that I'm finished with grad school. I'm sure it will soon, but for the mean time I keep thinking that there's something I need to be doing; I'm not used to having free time. The first thing on my summer to-do list: read Neil Gaiman's YA lit book Coraline. Everyone I've spoken to who's read it says it's downright terrifying, so I'm looking forward to starting it. I'll be able to do a whole lot of pleasure reading thus summer since I won't have a job, so I've already started a summer reading list (which makes my heart happy).

Here are a few pictures of graduation day. Some of them are a little washed out, but you'll get the gist.

The four of us started our Master's at the same time.
I'm going to miss these wonderful women

Me with Dr. Carroll, who was my Comps chair.
I want to be like her when I grow up.

The four M.A. graduates with the some of the English profs.

Brendan, me, and my folks