Law School is Over!

I began looking forward to graduation the day after spring break ended. During the last few weeks of school, I painfully forced myself to go through the motions. I wrote papers. I drafted documents. I completed assignments. I studied for exams. And then it was here: Graduation weekend.

On friday afternoon my parents and grandparents arrived with the chihuahua. A few hours later my two brothers, Dennis and Casey, arrived in the white Grand Marquis with Mimi sitting in the backseat. Casey hooked his WII up to the TV in their hotel suite. My grandpa called it the weed as he learned how to play WII golf that evening.

Friday night Jesse and Vanessa, my newly-wed brother-in-law and his wife, arrived at our apartment with Vivian, my sister-in-law. I did not know that Vivian was coming with Jesse and Vanessa or else I wouldn't have given our air mattress and sleeping bag to Casey. As a result, Vivian was relegated to layers of blankets piled on top of an extra-long chair cushion.

Saturday morning we prettied ourselves up for church. As the men were selfishly hogging the bathroom, the ladies were left to this less-than-ideal arrangement for doing our make-up:

On our way to church we stopped at the hotel to collect the rest of our party, whereupon a humorous conversation about the name of the pastor at our church ensued (Sven Frantzen, Van Swanson, Vins Ransom?). Although Dennis had stepped out of the shower moments before we arrived, even he was ready to go.

Once at church, Chris disappeared and then reappeared with his parents. The in-laws had arrived, also in a white Grand Marquis, and our graduation entourage was finally complete.

Saturday lunch took place in the community room of our apartment building. It was a completely natural combination of haystacks, enchiladas, and pie.

The meal arrangement required many trips between our apartment on the third floor and the community room on the first floor. With so money people going in and out of the apartment, it was only a matter of time before the chihuahua snuck out. Dennis found her contently walking the halls of our "no pets allowed" building. Fortunately, we have yet to receive any reprimands from our land lady.

The actual hooding ceremony was at six on Saturday evening. With so many people in town for this very event, I found it ironic that I drove to and from the ceremony by myself.

Before I left the apartment, I donned my size three robe and realized that size three means "for three people." Once I arrived at the arena where the ceremony would take place I was surrounded by classmates equally confused about our strange attire. Note how we are all wearing our hats and hoods differently:

(Thanks to Harvey's brother for getting the double T in the background!)

After confusing instructions on how to properly fold our hoods, we marched out into the arena. I am choosing to omit details on the small mistake I made during this procession, other than noting that a small mistake may have occurred. Here is a picture from the actual ceremony. Bet you can't find me (and maybe I can't find myself either...):

After an hour of listening to last names beginning with the letters A through R being called, it was finally my turn to ascend the stage. In law school, any attorney licensed to practice in the state can be your hooding attorney. I was honored to have Prof. Beyer, the professor I work for, be my hooding attorney. After my name was called, I walked on stage and Prof. Beyer placed my hood over my head and around my neck.

And just so you know that law school professors at Texas Tech are not all business all the time, here is a picture of Prof. Beyer and I from Easter:

After the ceremony ended, I found my family wandering the halls of the arena. I successfully corralled everyone together for a group shot:

From Left to Right:

Row one: Vanessa, Jesse, Rudy (Chris's Dad) Mimi, Chris

Row two: Zombie Lulu (Chris's mom), myself, my mom, Grandma, Grandpa

Row Three: Vivian

Row four: Casey, Dennis, my dad.

After the hooding ceremony, we headed back to the apartment. All of our furniture had been moved to the bedroom and the living room had been transformed into a pleasant party room. Again, I found it a bit ironic that I was the first person to arrive, but eventually everyone else showed up.

(If Vivian looks pre-occupied in the last picture, it's because she can't remember where she parked her train).

We feasted on pizza, wings, ice cream, and cake.

We modeled my goofy hat.

And then it was over. Graduation weekend came and went. It was a lovely weekend that makes tomorrow even harder. Tomorrow marks the beginning of more lectures, more reading, and more studying. But it also marks the day that I start looking forward to my post-bar-exam vacation.

California here I come...