Celebratory Weekend, Part I

Whew! What a weekend. On Friday night, I had my official hooding ceremony and was awarded my MBA degree! Exciting, right? There were two other things that made it particularly adrenalin-filled. 1) I was selected as the speaker by my classmates! Such a nice honor. So you can imagine that my presence was somewhat important at the ceremony. 2) In order to understand this, you need to first understand that the university I attended, George Fox, has multiple campuses. The campus I attended is about 35-40 minutes from the main campus. Now, keep in mind that, for the last 3 months, the information about my hooding was hanging on the fridge. I have read it dozens of times. Dozens. In addition, it was emailed to us. And a reminder email was sent the day before. And the day of the ceremony, Zach asked me which campus the ceremony was located out. You would think that all that would combine so that I would show up at the correct campus. Wrong. Which tells you where my head is lately. I feel just... scattered. You know that feeling? (Maybe this is why I still have not actually mailed a single Christmas present. Sigh. I am accepting my own limitations this year). So anyway, at 6:15 PM, I promptly showed up at the wrong campus, about 40 minutes from where I was supposed to be, with the ceremony scheduled to start at 7:00. I had some moments of freaking out- because who wouldn't, right?- but in the end, it was Zach, looking me straight in the eye, and saying in a completely calm and assuring voice "I will get you there" that saw me through.* And he did. At 6:58, just in time to walk out in the processional. So the day was saved. The speech was made. And I am an MBA (with a hood and everything). I love this picture because you can tell that Tate officially never stops moving long enough to get a non-blurry pic... *Zach told me later that he did not feel confident in any way that he could actually deliver on this promise. Which just shows you how great he is. Because he knew what I needed. And he did it. Oh how I love him.