Graduation

This is about 2/3's of Casey's graduating class.


















There were nearly 1,200 kids that started a whole new chapter to their lives this past Thursday at The University of North Texas. The stadium was packed with proud parents, relatives and friends; with their camera's flashing, banners waving and the occasional beach ball being tossed onto the floor of graduating high school seniors ready to party. It was wonderful.

Lasting a little over two hours, it moved pretty fast for me. There was the occasional student who mangaged to say something into the mic, one girl managed a cartwheel on stage in heels and her gown without losing her hat and, of course, lot's of cheering!


On our way up to Denton, home of UNT and where Casey will be attending this fall, Charlie sat in the backseat playing his guitar and wearing Casey's cap. Always our entertainer.



















Once there, we checked into the Raddisson during a pouring thunderstorm. I let the boys off under the overhang to get us checked in so they could take in Casey's gown and our luggage without getting wet. By the time I got into the hotel, I was soaked. We cleaned up in our room, played around with the sleep number beds, and got ready to meet Nikki for dinner.

We had dinner at El Guapos, and I loved the Voodoo Shrimp. First time I've had something spicy enough that I didn't have to add anything extra to it. Nikki walked in looking like a million bucks. For any of you that haven't seen pictures of Nikki on here before, you'll have to take my word for it because for some stupid reason, I didn't take any pictures before or after graduation.


We were running a tad late, so Casey changed into his dress clothes (dress code requirement) in the restaurant's bathroom. When the check came, Nikki insisted on getting it. She's a stubborn little snot. Charlie must have brought it up a dozen times in the last couple of days how he couldn't get over that not only did she come to Casey's graduation (otherwise it'd just been the two of us), and the generous gift she gave Casey, but she also bought us dinner. She's been a beautiful example to the boys of what love and commitment is.



At the graduation, we sat on the side where Casey told us he'd be sitting. However, he didn't tell us that he'd be walking away from us to get his diploma, so Nikki ran over to the other side of the colliseum and got herself situated to get these pictures for us:





Being as our last name is in the B's, we had quite the sit ahead of us, but it went pretty quickly. You put 1,200 teen's together and you're going to be entertained.


After the last student walked the stage, there was the turning of the tassle and then the tossing of the hat's.

It was a great night. The only down side was when it was over and the school's principal announced to the parents that they could find their students outside of the building. A stadium full of parents looking for their child among 1,200 kids all dressed alike outside in the dark at 11:00 p.m. After awhile, we found each other and headed back to the hotel. We found it impossible to unwind so we headed out for some dessert.

I finally made it to bed, tucked away at a 34 on my sleep number bed and slept wonderfully. Happy, proud and ever so blessed, I slept.