A mere 9 months after I was finished attending classes.
Nine months after my degree had been conferred upon me.
Six months after I received my diploma in the mail.
And nearly a month since I got my beautifully framed diploma back from Michael’s.
It was time for my actual graduation.
My parents drove down on Friday to begin the festivities with the School of Business Celebration at the Charles E. Smith Center (aka the dinkiest basketball arena in which I’ve ever watched the Flyers play).
Well, first we went to dinner at Founding Farmers near campus. Because the ceremony was at 7:30, we had early reservations and got to the restaurant even earlier. The hostess told us that our table would be ready in about 10-15 minutes.
One drawback to Founding Farmers for those who are a little older and/or have bad knees is that the “seats” in their waiting area are very low to the ground – probably only about 2-2.5’ high. We could have waited in the bar but there were no seats in the bar. So we stood until I asked the hostess if it would be possible for us to be seated sooner because my parents really needed to sit down. She said that our table was ready – well, we got seated but the other hostess still had to pull 2 tables together for us so they weren’t actually ready.
Now FF’s whole shtick is that the are one of the first green restaurants in the city – LEED certified building, locally sourced foods from farmers who follow sustainable growing practices, organic foods. As a result the decor is a lot of neat reclaimed wood, the water bottles for the table are old school milk bottles, a lot of bamboo, and a few of the tables in the bar area appeared to be made out of tree stumps.
The menu was almost overwhelming in its delicious sounding choices. We had a flatbread appetizer with brie and onion marmalade. Mom and I ended up splitting a salad and in the end Dad gave a big portion of his lettuce wedge to Will. Mom and I both had fantastic scallops with butternut squash risotto (only slightly marred by the presence of green peas). Will had shrimp and grits (only slightly marred by lots of tomatoes) that were pretty tasty. Dad had the prime rib – SOOO good.
We didn’t have time to stay for dessert but we did peruse the menu just to see what our options were.
Sadly the rain that had been forecast for the day decided right then to rear its ugly head necessitating umbrella usage and dashing through the rain. At least it was short lived.
Of course the break from the rain turned out to be short-lived as well. As I stood on the corner of G and 22nd trying to put on my regalia, there was a loud clap of thunder and literally 2 seconds later a deluge. Thankfully Will was quick with the umbrella so Mom and I didn’t get too wet but Dad wasn’t as fortunate. As we huddled with other graduates and family members next to Duques, I discovered that I didn’t know where I was supposed to be so there was a bit of fortuitousness to the rain.
The rain held off long enough for all the graduates to process across the street and into the Smith Center. 
Mother Nature really wanted to make her presence known however. During the National Anthem, it must have started storming again because when she got to the “bombs bursting in air,” there was another loud clap of thunder.
Our keynote speaker was Marcia Bullard, former CEO of USA WEEKEND and founder and member of the board for Make a Difference Day, a day of service sponsored by USA TODAY. She was kind of interesting but didn’t know her audience. She seemed to get us confused with the undergraduates continuously referring to us as “millennials” even though the majority of the graduate school class was over 30 and not even close to being a millennial. She did make an interesting point that I hadn’t thought of before. She suggested that no matter what you’re doing with your career, you should give up a part of your time for service, in particular by serving on the board of directors of a non-profit that interests you – both to give back and to learn a different way of doing business.
Then it was time to “get our diplomas.” 
I thought the way they do it is rather lame though I would guess that it’s a common practice. We were all given a card on which to write our name and then hand to the person “reading” the names. No order. Not terribly special. Very weird to me after our UD graduation wherein they called out the name of each and every graduate at commencement. We weren’t even given an approximation of our diplomas, receiving instead GW travel wallets.
And all of a sudden it was all over and we were being pushed out into the humid streets (I’d actually defied all the rules and gotten back into the arena to meet up with my folks but we did lose Dad in the process).
We attempted to go to the reception in Duques but it was just too packed so we walked in one door and out the one on the other side. The desserts at Founding Farmers were calling us. We were told that the wait would be about 25-30 min but we were able to get seats at the bar. And dessert was definitely worth coming back for. Mom and I shared a huge bowl of chocolate mousse – AMAZING. Dad had carrot cake and Will had a banana split.
Will’s artsy shot of the bar – the only picture to come out nice.
I could do better with my shots of Rolling Thunder but this is from several years ago from the car as we left Arlington Cemetery. I know that a lot of Arlingtonians get annoyed but it is an amazing gesture of support. We were heartened to see all the bikes headed toward DC on Friday as we were on our way out of DC.
