GRADUATION DAY 2012!

What a spectacular day on Sunday, 20 May!  Four years in the making and it went off without a hitch! It was a whirlwind trip for both Jon and me. He flew in to DC on Wednesday night and I arrived on Thursday morning from Jo'burg. We met Jonathan on Friday afternoon in Charlottesville where we feasted on Mexican food at Guadalajara, Jonathan's favorite Mexican restaurant. Tex-Mex is about the only food you can't get in SA and we miss it so much. Saturday Bonnie and Brook (Jon's sister and sister-in-law) drove over from DC and Jonathan took us all on an extensive fact-filled walking tour of the campus that included a stop at his frat house. Yes, Animal House is alive and well.  We all had a nice dinner that evening, joined by Jonathan's girlfriend Ally.

Sunday we were up bright and early to stake out our lawn seats.  Families of graduates get only three tickets to watch the graduation from the Lawn. Other members have to watch from remote viewing locations. Big Jon bought two lawn chairs for Bonnie and Brook and set them up under a tree to listen from loud speakers. Ally and I grabbed 3 seats along the processional line in hopes of seeing JB, which we did.  There were an estimated 35,000 people in Charlottesville for graduation and the excitement (and traffic and parking nightmares and short tempers) was evident.  Jon joined us as the processional began. The colored banners representing each college came by with the degree candidates behind them. Many of the graduates carried balloons and had decorated their mortar boards with funny sayings or thank yous.  The procession went on for almost an hour as the more than 6,000 degree candidates(undergrads, grads, PhDs, MDs, JDs) began at the Rotunda and worked their way down the Lawn.  Katie Couric was the graduation speaker and she did a fabulous job. Each college was recognized and asked to stand by the dean of the college, the President conferred their degrees upon them and so on. Jonathan found his way to us eventually where we snapped a few pictures before Bonnie and Brook headed back to Lewes, DE where Bonnie was being sworn in on Monday as the newest Lewes, DE councilwoman!

Jon, Jonathan, Ally and I had a wonderful dinner and a beautiful country club just outside Charlottesville. It was the perfect way to end the day, celebrating JB's accomplishments and talking about his future. His future is somewhat certain - law school for sure. He is just not sure where. He has had several acceptances and is still on a few waitlists.  William and Mary is at the top right now, where he is assured a spot and has been offered some scholarship money.  He is still hoping to clear the UVA waitlist, which is his top choice.  We will wait and see. In the mean time, he has sublet an apartment in C'ville for the summer and looking for a job.

It seems like yesterday when he got off the bus after his first day of kindergarten in Gainesville, GA and told me his first day of school sucked.  Never did I think it would all go by so fast!

Ally straightening Jonathan's mortar board

Jon, Jonathan, Bonnie and Brook
outside JB's frat house, Chi Phi

Ally, Jonathan and his friend Gavin