<p>My son has told me that the graduation ceremony at the U. of Chicago takes 5 or 6 hours. I sincerely hope he’s exaggerating. And, since it’s all outdoors, that it’s neither 90 degrees outside, nor raining. I really am looking forward to this, but not so much to the entirety of that part of it! Especially because, at my son’s request, I’ll probably be sitting next to my former spouse. 5-6 hours of such proximity is way more than I’m used to; we’ve been divorced for 7 years and separated for 12. And we hardly ever communicate any more, except occasionally by email when something needs to be discussed about our son.</p>
<p>DonnaL—I can relate, sat one seat over from my former spouse,(thank goodness for my older brother). My s was estranged from his dad the last 6 years, for good reason sadly, so it was challenging. I behaved graciously and all went okay, but quite emotional on the inside. </p>
<p>Sent from my MB860 using CC</p>
<p>I had two graduate last month! The older (5 yr plan) graduated from a lare state U. They had three graduations so it was nice all the kids were called up on stage. She was Commissioned into the Army the afternoon prior so it was a two day affair.
Lucky for us she did her internship at the Convocation center so she was able to get us all a box suite! Made the 2.5 hour long commencement much more tolerable.</p>
<p>Her sister graduated the following Friday - what is it with these weekday graduations?? The afternoon prior there was a very nice reception for her major.
The <em>DRAMA</em> was she woke up the morning of graduation with a fever of 101.5.<br>
We dosed her up on tylenol and ibuprofen and she made it through the ceremony. She had to move out of her campus apt by noon the next day. That night she was still sick so her sister - who spent the night with her took her to urgent care where they said it was strep and put her on Augmentin.
Mom did most of the packing. cleaning and moving on Sat morning - ugh!</p>
<p>Monday am she was still sick and she and her sister were headed for Europe on Wed! I called and got her into an ENT on Mon afternoon and he put her on steroids and told her to have a good time.
They made the plane and have been tromping around Europe for three weeks. I pick them up tomorrow.
With the fun and games over it’s time to commence the ‘real’ job search!</p>
<p>Whew, justamom!! Thats a lotta graduating!! Congrats!!</p>
<p>jym - yes! It was crazy! But I am all done now - 4 for 4. Finis! Next goal - get them off my payroll! lol.</p>
<p>S1 graduated today in the Chicago heat. DH was there and promises he took lots of pics of S1. I am not allowed to travel at this stage. S left campus before exams because of my medical emergency – fortunately the profs were understanding and S was able to complete papers/finals from the hospital here. S heads overseas to spend time with his fiancee, attend her graduation ~6/25, and then they will come back here in early Aug. to organize their stuff and move to Nor Cal.</p>
<p>Oh, CountingDown, I’m sorry you weren’t able to make the graduation. I just looked at your past posts. If I read it right, it sounds like you had a heart attack and your younger son saved you with CPR. That’s a wonderful story. You have terrific sons!</p>
<p>My dear H packed my UChicago mom shirt in my hospital kit, so I had it to wear today. Was plenty thankful to even be here, so not baking in the heat was OK. I am definitely not up for that yet!</p>
<p>So very glad to see you posting here, CountingDown! Also that your s was able to graduate on schedule. If there’s a graduation DVD, you can watch it while sitting under a heat lamp to get the full effect of being there. 
Congratulations and best wishes to all of you.</p>
<p>Another here in the cheering section with Counting Down, cheering for both her and her son. Hip Hip HOORAY!</p>
<p>Congrats to DS1 CD .
I am sitting here with another OCD Mom who arrive at o,dark thirty to get great seats for the GRADUATE day!! So very proud of our girl, all three honor societies (TBP, PBK, SX) and suma cum laud… Should have taken that tot the bragging thread, but I did it earlier.</p>
<p>Beautiful sunny day now, going to be hot as heck by ten.</p>
<p>Counting Down, so glad that you’re okay and congrats on your S’s graduation.</p>
<p>Esobay, enjoy the day and all your D’s accomplishments.</p>
<p>Congrats to all the other parents of the class of 2012. My D graduated a few weeks ago and is in Europe with friends now. She was very sad to graduate and leave her friends. I’m happy that she had such a great experience in college, both academically and socially.</p>
<p>CountingDown, so glad to hear you’re recovering & congrats to your S. </p>
<p>Congrats esobay. How proud you must be of your D.</p>
<p>Congrats to all! FINALLY travelling to Chicago this week for Northwestern’s graduation and really looking forward to it.</p>
<p>MY s starts his real , “big boy” first fulltime post-college job tomorrow. Hard to believe. He was in town for a day earlier this week and he mused “I can’t believe I am not in college anymore”. That makes two of us!</p>
<p>Congrats to all the new graduates and their parents! much to be proud of!</p>
<p>Glad you’re doing well Countingdown, your experience reminds us all of what is really important.</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone. Your good wishes have really boosted my spirits!</p>
<p>Most important class S2 has taken: CPR. Was a counselor at a local archaeology camp while in HS and they taught them what to do.</p>
<p>S#2 just finished his first week of work. He seems to really enjoy it. He was astounded to find out what rate they were billing him out at!</p>
<p>Happy fathers day, everyone! Lets keep our group of recent grad parents alive!</p>
<p>Tough weekend for my 2012 S2.<br>
In h.s., he had three close friends…always together doing one thing or another. They were a part of a bigger circle of friends but these four were more like brothers.
Six weeks after h.s. graduation, two of them died as a result of an automobile accident.
S2 was following them in his truck and saw the whole thing. It was horrific as was the aftermath for S2. At 18, he and the Friend 3 had to bury (literally, they were pall bearers) their two best buds. </p>
<p>S2 and Friend3 left for college three weeks later. They roomed together for two and half years until Friend 3 dropped out and went home.</p>
<p>We got the call yesterday that Friend3 was killed Friday night.
Four h.s. best friends…four years later on S2 is left.</p>
<p>How much more can my boy take? I’m so sad for him.<br>
He’s out of town with college friends…have only communicated thru a few short texts.
Will see him today…there are no words to make it better.</p>