Graduation

WOW! We have waited for so long for graduation and now it has come and gone. So crazy! It was quit an event though. David fortunately was able to call us on his cell phone from the field so we knew where he was at all of the appropriate times that we wanted to take pictures of him. David's Dad had also brought his binoculars which made it easier to find him. Graduation started at 1:00, so my parents, David's parents, and I headed over to get some seats. We wound up sitting on the third level about 5 rows from the front. At the very first we were somewhat disappointed that we were so high, but by the end of the ceremony all of the lower seats were right in the sun, so we were VERY happy. At about 12:45 they started bring the staff and students into the stadium. There were so many of them that it took about 35 minutes to get them all in there! It was neat to see them all walk like Ants onto the Reser stadium field. Once David was in the stadium he called us and we got a ton of pictures of him walking in line. Super exciting I know, but we loved it! The ceremony was pretty good for the first hour. There were a few short speakers, and then they issued honorary bachelors degrees to the WWII Japanese Veterans who were kicked out of school at the beginning of the war. It was amazing to hear the story of what they went through. Not all of them were able to be there, some had deceased and others just couldn't make the trip. For some that were deceased they had a relative represent them as well as some that couldn't make the trip. It was so cool though that some of the actual people were there. One of the men played on the 1942 Rose Bowl team for OSU. Although he wasn't able to play in the game due to the circumstances, he was able to receive a ring and he was wearing it that day. It was such a neat presentation, I think everyone had a
tear in their eye! It definitely made it worth it for sitting there for so long. :)
Now the best part of graduation was at the end when David FINALLY got his diploma. It was so fun to be there for that! Even though the didn't say the names of all of the graduating seniors, it was special for me. I know how hard David worked these last few years. He was so dedicated to his school work, and was driven to reach this goal of graduation. He is so amazing for all the he has endured! The first two years after his mission (the second of those two years being our first year of marriage) he worked as a student custodian at the Memorial Union (MU) Building on campus 20 hrs. a week and still maintained good grades. His last year of school he worked at a job that he loved as the Assistant Manager of the Rec Center on campus caled "The Basement" because it is located in the Basement of the MU. That job kept him busy all of the time and again he was still able to maintain at least a 3.0 gpa. It would always amaze me how he could study only the night before and still pull off an A or a B on a test! He is a great example to me and I know he will also be to our children.

:) :) :) :) I LOVE YOU DAVID, I AM SO PROUD OF YOU! :) :) :) :)