(I technically already graduated in August, but) here we are!
When I walked out of my hotel, I saw this other girl in the same regalia, so we decided to jump in the uber together, which I thought was fun!
One thing I thought was kind of hilarious was that all of our paperwork said over and over that basically we BETTER NOT be late. And we had to be there something like two ish hours(?) early to the venue. And if we were even a MINUTE late to that time, they were going to close and lock the doors and it was game over for us.
Now, realistically, I knew that wasn’t gonna happen. Let’s get real.
Life happens. Traffic. Also, in that whole two hours, nobody’s gonna sneak away to use the bathroom or something? Why couldn’t a late person come in with them?
They’re not gonna let someone not graduate just because they’re not absurdly early.
My guess was, they asked us to be absurdly early, so that they could be absolutely certain that even IF things happened, we’d still be more than on time.
So, even though my logical mind knew they were gonna let us in…
I wasn’t taking any chances.
I got there before the ‘deadline’. And of COURSE I saw a ton more people coming in over the next hour and a half or whatever it was, before we moved everybody back to the holding area.
Like, dang. If I’d been this confident things would’ve been okay, I would’ve stayed at the hotel and gotten my hair done.
Over the years, I hadn’t thought all *that* much about my graduation ceremony. I hadn’t had giant dreams about what I would wear and everything. So, I wasn’t too wrapped up in those details.
I had considered it a little. And I had looked into getting a graduation cap done up all cutely. (I had thought maybe like a Kanye-West-Graduation-album thing… I mean, he’s maybe ‘problematic’ in some ways, but I loved him for a time, and his first album titles are college themed.)
I also, as time got closer, thought about getting something like “Women’s rights are human rights,” since I looooove Hillary Rodham Clinton, and all of the rumors are swirling real hard that Roe v Wade is gonna be overturned.
But alas, I just couldn’t get it together. I even tried to do it myself while I was hanging at a hotel in Boston, but maaaaaan am I not the type of crafty needed to make my own graduation cap.
I also kinda wanted some perfect dress, but my weight’s been fluctuating during the pandemic, and I’m living out of a suitcase, coming from Egypt, and New York, and on my way to Morocco after this.
So, I didn’t have some perfectly coiffed thing.
On the one hand, I should have, because this has been like ~ 13 years in the making. On the other hand, it’s just cool to be done. I think I could’ve showed up wrapped in a potato sack and my family would’ve still probably lost their minds with happiness. They were just happy to be there, even if I’d had spiders in my hair. Like, it literally didn’t matter what I looked like to them.
And I had a cute little outfit on anyway. Maybe not a full on grad dress-up thing, but I had my go-to pink sweater and white skirt.
So, anyway, I throw on clothes that are good enough and make-up that’s good enough, and I don’t really do anything with my hair, since it’s in a grad cap.
And this is where I’ll pick up tomorrow!