One Weekend, Two Milestones

What a whirlwind this past week has been!  At this time last week, I was prepping to leave early the next morning to drive up to the U.P. and attend DD2's college graduation.  And, I was awaiting any word from DS1 or K2 about being in labor and heading to the hospital.  In the previous two weeks, K2 had four bouts of false labor, her due date was coming up, and her OB had said it would be anytime now.  Anytime, or sometime on May 3rd, when they would induce her if the baby had not come by that morning.

Friday morning came.  DH and I hit the road, early, for our 500 mile trip.  At nearly the same time, DS1 and K2 headed for the hospital and the scheduled induction.  My brain was in two places at once.  No way was I going to miss DD2's graduation on Saturday morning (or the reception her department was giving at 3:30 Friday afternoon), but I really didn't want to miss Rascal's arrival either.

The whole long drive (nearly 9 hours because of delays from an accident that closed part of the expressway, and construction in several spots along the way), DH kept asking if I'd heard anything from DS1.  Not really, not until about 12:30 when DS1 texted to say "no baby yet, but she's finally at 7 cm"  And then again at 2:45 when he texted "still no baby; hopefully soon".  And then at 3:15, just as DH and I were arriving in town where DD2's departmental reception was happening at 3:30. . .

"He's here!  3:13 p.m."

Rascal had arrived!  The pictures DS1 texted me looked like my new grandson was a sturdy, healthy baby.  It was really hard to be so far away; my arms were itching to hold that brand new little bundle.

DH and I met DD2 just as the doors were opening at the building where the reception was; the building where a majority of her college classes had been held (at least the lecture classes; a lot of her labs were held outdoors).  We enjoyed refreshments, a delicious cake, and listened to the faculty speak about this graduating class.  Each of the two dozen or so prospective graduates of the department (at a mainly engineering college, those falling under the auspices of Forest Resources and Environmental Science are few) were given a few minutes of fame in which they spoke their name, degree, and future plans into the microphone.  I was glad I was present (yet what I wouldn't give to be able to be in two places at once).

Graduation was the following morning.  We arrived at the ice arena (where else would an Upper Peninsula college hold it's commencement ceremony?) early so that we could hopefully get seats near where DD2 would be seated.  DH was bored, and ended up going out and walking around while I held our seats for about an hour and a half until things got started.  I admit, I was on Facebook looking at newborn pictures of Rascal. . .

Until the candidates for Bachelor of Science degrees started filing in behind the Doctoral and Master's candidates.  Then I spotted DD2 and started taking pictures of my own.  Most of them turned out kind of blurry, because I was zoomed in so far and everyone was in motion.  Although, when it came time to pick out ones to share here, that blurriness was kind of a good thing since I try really hard to maintain anonymity and not post pictures where faces are recognizable.

filing into her seat for the (3 hour long) commencement ceremony

getting out of her seat to go walk across stage and have her name and degree announced

Such a proud moment!  Our baby, our fourth child, was now a college graduate.  She holds a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Ecology and Management as well as a minor in International Spanish.  In the first picture you can see that she wears two stoles, the red & white one (with yellow tip) for her study abroad in Peru, and the green and white one marking her as a member of the Xi Sigma Pi honor society (of Foresters).  She barely missed out on graduating with an academic honor cord as well; her overall GPA just 0.10 shy of cum laude even though her departmental GPA had her at magna cum laude.  *sigh*  That little tidbit bugs her a little, she really wanted to graduate with an honor cord like both DH and DS2 did from the same college (especially since they are both engineers, while she is a 'tree hugger' as those students majoring in forestry and environmental sciences are known).

DH and I headed for home the next day, through rain for a little over half of the 500 miles.  It was a bittersweet trip; we've been to the U.P. at least once a year for the past eight years, since DS2 began college there and then as soon as he graduated, DD2 began school there.  We plan to retire there, but that's a good decade off yet.  Neither one of us wants to wait 10 years before we get up there again, so we tossed around a couple of ideas (such as an annual vacation there in the interim between now and retirement).  Yet, as much as we wanted to stay in the U.P., we also wanted to get home ASAP and meet our new grandson!

It ended up being quite late when we arrived home that night, so we had to wait until after DH got home from work on Monday.  I swear that was about the longest day of my life.  I had promised DH I wouldn't go to see the baby without him, but yet, it felt like he was never going to get home from work!

In actuality, he got out of work a good two hours earlier than he has been for most of this year so far (the demands of his job are another post for another day; I'm wearing quite thin on what's become routine).  We were at DS1 and K2's house (she and Rascal had been discharged from the hospital on Sunday) by 5:15, and we were able to spend over half an hour there seeing K3 and Toad, as well as taking turns holding Rascal before having to head home so DH could get ready for a work related conference call.

Rascal looks identical to Toad as a newborn.  Yet, I saw an expression on his face that also looks like one his sister is prone to.  And he has my long bony skinny fingers! It's going to be so much fun getting to know this little boy and watch him grow.

Rascal, my third grandchild