Celebrating Ed's graduation was something I'd been looking forward to for a long time. I say I, not we, because Ed had been telling me for a long time that he was not going to walk at his graduation. He skipped his college and masters graduations and wasn't wild about the pomp and circumstance, as it were. However, luckily we were able to persuade him that even if it wasn't important to him, it is a special event for his family and the UC Santa Cruz staff that supported him along the way, and he finally relented.
Which brought us to June 12th, a beautiful day in Santa Cruz.
The celebration began at the Buttery, a favorite local restaurant, where we had lunch.
Food was lovely, and it gave me a chance to pick up the cake for the party later!
From there, we headed onto campus, and I was reminded of what a privilege it was to live here for a year.
We went off and explored the library while Ed headed off to get ready, and then went ourselves to the field for the main event. A little after we found our seats, our friends Bill and Jenny joined us - such a treat.
Soon, Pomp and Circumstance started playing and we all craned to get a view of the professors and graduates. My sister, Kortney, got a better view by standing on her chairs.
The professors sat in front of us, and the grads sat in bleachers facing us. Of course, I picked the wrong side for us to sit on, but we still had a very nice view. We kept ourselves entertained by guessing the discipline of the graduate, based on their dissertation titles. Finally they got going and we waited, and waited, and waited, until Ed's name was read.
Beforehand, we all made a plan of when we'd cheer (while he was being hooded, for the full dramatic effect).
As his advisor, Jerome, hooded Ed. We all screamed as loudly as we could, and we weren't the only ones. All his Masters Education students, who were also graduating, cheered for him as well. We may be biased, but he had the best cheers of the ceremony!
We were all very proud of our graduate.
Of course we all needed our picture with him!
Kort had fun playing around with his hood (as did others!). It's like being a PhD superhero :)
After the ceremony, we left campus and headed to Jerome and Bert's home, where they were hosting a celebration for Ed.
The food was amazing
The cake I had gotten was beautifully decorated with flowers.
Ed chose the coffee flavor cake, which was a big hit!
The dinner tables were set up in the living room, and looked beautiful. Ed and I decided it was possibly fancier than our wedding :).
We all wasted no time in getting settled and enjoying the food and drinks.
Outside was just as lovely!
It was wonderful having everyone together.
After eating, Jerome gave a very wonderful toast about Ed's hard work over the last five years. Next, my dad gave a very touching speech, I said a few words, and Ed's mom also spoke.
Finally, it was Ed's turn. I'm always amazed by how great he is speaking in front of others, since he usually comes across as pretty reserved. Though, after hearing his mom talk, I can see where he gets that side of himself.
He presented Jerome with two gifts. First, since Jerome is always giving Ed books (and followed in turn by giving him two that night about being a new faculty), Ed gave Jerome a book about the Santa Cruz Campus. He also gave him a signed and bound copy of his dissertation, of course.
After speeches and gifts, it was time for the cake, which was every bit as good as we hoped it would be!
During dessert, Jerome's partner, Bert, entertained us by reading Ed's dissertation table of contents with very hilarious side notes. Who knew a science education dissertation could be so scandalous?
It was a great night, celebrating with friends and family!
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