12/9/22 Another Graduation?

     It was a long time coming, but Girlie has now officially graduated.  We haven't been under the best of terms lately, but we showed up for her graduation, because as Mijo said, that's just what you do.  In the end, I was glad we did show up.  I feel fairly certain that the degree she earned was mainly accomplished because Wife and I were in her life, and we kept pushing and nudging her along until she got there.  Wife would have joined me, except that she is at a conference in Frisco, which is by Dallas.

    It felt like we were doing a copycat of the last time when Boy graduated.  Instead of parking in the handicap area, which was a pain after to walk to, being that we had to walk all around the coliseum, we parked in the first lot we ran into that said, "commencement parking."  From here, a bus took us right to the front doors of the Strahan Coliseum, which was nice, no pesky walking outside, even though it was a pleasant day.  I asked Mijo if we should buy some of the souvenir stuff they were selling outside and he said it looked like everybody was doing it, so yes.  We bought the combo package which had some roses, a souvenir shirt, a teddy bear, and the big beads we got Boy last time, when he graduated.

    Walking in was easy, this again, after making a big deal about needing tickets, nobody is asking for proof of tickets anywhere.  We just walked all the way in and sat where it looked like we were high and away from people, but people kept coming.  We ended up moving about three times, trying to avoid being surrounded by so many people.  In the end, we sat in the highest part up in the corner and I got some flashbacks about sitting in this very spot when we came to see Del Valle graduate, where DD and so many other friends of Boy graduated.

    Afterwards, Mijo and I walked out towards where the graduates come out, near the river.  We waited a few minutes and then Girlie popped up.  She hugged us but was quickly on the phone trying to get her family together.  After 20 minutes, eventually, they all came down towards where we were at.  They took a bunch of pictures and then we headed off to eat.  We ate at 54th Street Restaurant, a first for us, but it was good.  The meal took about an hour, maybe a little longer, and it felt like we hadn't missed out on 10 years of hanging out.  Everybody is older and probably heavier, but that is life.  We exchanged numbers, but I'll believe it when they start texting.