THE LAST FIVE ...

Closing up shop
- Wednesday, Aug. 02, 2006

It may be time for a change
- Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Entry in the air
- Friday, April 21, 2006

Still here
- Thursday, April 20, 2006

Music of the moment
- Wednesday, March 1, 2006

Or ... BE RANDOM!


GOOD READS

101 in 1001
American Road Trip, 1998


OTHER PEOPLE

Chupatintas
Dancing Brave
Fugging It Up
Kitty Sandwich
Mister Zero
Sideways Rain
Ultratart
Velcrometer


THE BASICS

My crew
Latest
Older
Notes
Our host
Profile

2001-05-19 - 5:16 p.m.

Graduation: Peace be with you

Saturday, May 19

I skip the French students� breakfast and meet Mom and Dad in 101 DeBartolo for the Phi Beta Kappa initiation. When Mom struggles to stay awake during some circuit court judge�s speech, complaining how stuffy the room is, I remember my own tired times in those seats while our little calculus professor drew on his transparencies below.

From Phi Beta Kappa, we go to a barbecue at College Park. Four of Jess� Lyons Hall friends live in a ground-floor apartment across the hall from where my friends Jamie and Kelly and Ann and Corrine lived senior year. Burgers and chicken and kielbasa are grilled by the scum-covered pond, with beer on the deck and snacks inside. Proving my theory that if it�s between April and September there�s always a game on, the Mets and Dodgers are on FX, but since that score pleased no one with baseball loyalties similar to mine, I turn to the Devils and their 1-0 lead on the Penguins.

Back at Lyons, while Jess and Mom doze before the Mass at the Joyce Center, Dad and I watch the hockey game in the Lair, along with a family of Penguins season ticket holders. The Devils went up 2-0 while we sat there, eventually winning 5-0.

Before Mass, we meet at the reflecting pool near the library with friends whose daughter Liz graduated in January but is walking in the ceremony. Her father Steve grew up in South River with my dad; her mother Christina went to Rutgers with my mom. Liz�s boyfriend Andy is there, along with both her grandmothers.

Walking � or rather herding � into the north dome of the ACC after Mass, I look around and notice a woman with a familiar head of brilliant red hair. It�s Shannon, who sees me and comes over with a hug and a hello. Her sister graduated too. Shannon and I first met at the Jersey Shore Club sendoff in August 1994, so I guess she qualifies as my first ND friend. At least the earliest friend I still talk to. I last saw her in September 1998, at the Finnegan�s block party Thursday night before the first football game (that would be the trouncing of Michigan). She told me then she was getting married that October and moving to Texas. I remember telling the story to Jamie and mentioning Shannon was without drink, very unlike her style. �Is she pregnant,� Jamie joked.

Their son is now 2. They live outside D.C., and she�s teaching dance classes and performing in local theater productions. She looks exactly the way she did in college.

Inside at dinner, I catch up with my family again after talking with Shannon and find they�ve found the Kathy's family and Laura and we�re all eating together.

Before going out after dinner, the parents and Jess head back to the dorm to pack up her car in preparation for the two-car caravan home on Monday. Longing for jeans and sneakers, I go back to Kregg's and Julie's house to change my clothes and relax for half an hour. I have the house to myself (along with the big golden retriever) and decide quickly, without dwelling on it (and letting nerves get the best of me) to call Casey in Chicago. It's the first phone conversation I have with the first person I've met online through this site. I'd missed a free Borders performance by Cowboy Junkies in Chicago earlier in the day, and had decided I wouldn't be able to come to the city for a visit on Monday after such an exhausting weekend on campus.

We have a nice chat for about half an hour before I ask one question too many and then say goodbye to return to campus. I meet up with my family at the dorm and we head over to Coach�s to have drinks with Liz and her parents and grandmothers and other friends who pass by. Amber Bock in a plastic cup, I shoot foul shots with Steve while �Babylon� comes from the speakers and it's almost like reliving a memory.

Previous page: Graduation: Let the festivities begin
Next page: Graduation: Friends Forever

� 1998-2004 DC Products. All rights reserved.

Yeah, sorry I have to be all legal on you here, but unless otherwise indicated, all that you read here is mine, mine, mine. But feel free to quote me or make fun of me or borrow what I write and send it out as an e-mail forward to all your friends, family and coworkers. Just don't say it's yours, you know?