Slightly over a month ago, we graduated from college. Thanks to a non-traditional high school experience, it was my first time in a cap and gown with a traditional ceremony. I think the best way to adequately describe Athens for graduation day is madhouse: with thousands of graduates came thousands of family members, but the looks of pride on all the parents faces and the happy atmosphere all over town made it a fantastic day.
My family came over early for pictures, and after my parents thoroughly traumatized me with an intense photo session, we finally headed to Ted's Most Best for food and champagne.
Ted's was fantastic. The baked goat cheese quite literally rocked my world and I may or may not have eaten mine, my mom's and then secretly wished for more. My love for goat cheese (well, all cheese) knows no boundaries, and Ted's did not disappoint. And since my family is my family, our glorious lunch was followed by general silliness and a Ben & Jerry's stop.
The ceremony itself was a weird combination of bittersweet and extremely impersonal. Theres something to be said about sharing a milestone like this with several thousand peers you've never even seen before, but looking to my left and seeing my best friends next to me got me misty about the fact that we're all about to be split up. I also loved finding my family amidst the sea of people of in the bleachers-it made me feel like I was in a grade school play or concert, anxiously scanning the crowd until I saw their faces, and then waving like my life depended on it.
The ceremony was followed with fireworks, which we then followed up with a last few hours celebrating downtown.
It was a happy day, made even happier by getting to spend it with my family and my favorite people. College would have been pretty meaningless had I not had them around, and even though were all moving on to new and amazing things, I'm going to forever miss them and nights like this.
