We'll Remember Always, Graduation Day

What a great weekend!! Re-united with my sweetie Friday evening, then H2’s commencement ceremony Saturday afternoon. Loyola University of New Orleans had two commencements, one at 9AM and one at 4:30PM. Thankfully, ours was the latter.

Despite dire predictions to the contrary, the day turned out ok, weather-wise. It was overcast and a bit breezy for the commencement, but that made for a very comfortable climate to be in for several hours.

The guest speaker for the afternoon graduation was James Carville, a Louisiana native (from Carville, LA) well known for engineering political campaign successes, including that of President Clinton in 1992. Although I don’t necessarily agree with his politics, his speech to the graduates was quite good. Not the usual “You’ve got the world ahead of you, go out and succeed!!” type of speech. Rather, he spoke of the class of ’06 as being one that will be remembered for having weathered the storm that was Katrina, being dispersed to over 500 universities/colleges across the country, yet choosing to return to finish what they had started right there, in New Orleans, at Loyola.

He also spoke of the storm and its aftermath as the kind of reality check that most college students will never experience, at least not before they graduate and go out into the “real world”. The Loyola Class of ’06 is a class that was forced to grow up, to mature, and to come to grips with the reality of life that is challenge, setback, defeat, determination and success.

After the ceremony our group (17 strong) went downtown to a wonderful dinner at a Middle Eastern restaurant called “Byblos”. It was delicious, the company was excellent, and everyone had a great time.

The evening was capped off by the family going to a local establishment (oh, alright, we went to a local bar) for some spirits and live music. The two local bands were talented and the music was good. While there I noticed a fellow wearing a Tee shirt that read “Binghamton is Terrific”. I just HAD to ask him where he got the shirt. Rather than give a total (possibly drunk) stranger an opportunity to invade his world, he tried to put me off (I think) with, “My girlfriend got it for me.” Not to be put off, I asked where she had gotten it. He pointed to her so I asked her where she had gotten the shirt. She told me she got it in Binghamton, a “small town in New York”. When I mentioned that I had graduated from Central High School, they both admitted to being graduates of Binghamton High School, themselves, and that the fellow’s dad was also a BCHS graduate. To alleviate the confusion here, when I went to high school, there were two, Binghamton Central and Binghamton North High Schools. Later they were consolidated into Binghamton High School, on the campus of what had been Binghamton Central H.S. Anyway, my whole point after all this is, gee, small world, huh?

Sunday was First Communion for the Holy Name of Mary second graders. They were SO cute! All dressed up and, at least for the moment, full of Jesus in their lives. I had to take a moment to pray that He would remain a significant and central part of their lives as they grow into teens and young adults.

After Mass, Linda and I went to dinner with our good friends Mick and Bev. It was truly wonderful to see them again after several weeks of not being able to connect. A quick stop at Starbucks for coffee rounded out our visit with M&B.

Finally, at 6PM we were loading up and getting ready to hit the road. Midnight saw us arriving at our “home away from home” in Memphis. Thankfully the weather was perfect for driving, with dry roads and clear conditions.

I will save any comments re: the eye-opening experience I received with my introduction to “myspace.com”. Stay tuned… You know who you are… I still love you.