p.s. we graduated!

Somehow I forgot to mention that..true--it did happen before we hit the road, but it is still noteworthy! On April 20th F and I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science, respectively. F's family came down to celebrate with us, as did my grandparents.

During that week we also went to an Awards Dinner for the Linguistics Department, where F got recognized for having a great GPA—in fact the “Highest GPA Among Linguistics Undergraduate Students”. Especially considering all he has gone through recently, I’m really proud of him and happy for him.

On the 19^th we walked with thousands up the ramps and into the Marriot Center to hear Elder Oaks give a Commencement Address. This is probably not a completely direct quotation, but this is what I have in my notes: “We [referring to those who have graduated before us] have survived daunting challenges and you shall too…--The answer to all of these challenges remains the same--we have a Savior and we always will...he has overcome the world.”

Elder Oaks then shared several quotations from Brigham Young, the school’s founder.

·         "Some think too much and should labor more. Others labor too much and should think more...need to maintain balance..."

·         "There is no music in hell..."

·         "Can we ask him to fight our battles, when he has given me the sword to wield myself?..."

Interesting ideas, which is—I’m sure—why Elder Oaks shared them. Therefore, food for thought.

I had decided to walk with F’s college instead of the other way around, because the McKay School of Education had their convocation ceremonies at 8, meaning we would have needed to be there at 7…so we opted for the College of Humanities at 4pm instead :).

Our Convocations Speaker was actually a woman I knew from the French House, who had also been my visiting teacher—and she did a great job. She shared some amusing advice, acknowledging that we can only speak from experience, so she shared personal anecdotes and lessons learned, such as how she now agrees with Zaphod Beeblebrox, that one should always bring a towel, thanks to an interesting experience in a youth hostel in Rome. Or that “if you are a dog person, don’t rag too much on cats, because you never know how many cat people there are around you; if you are a cat person, you can rag on dogs all you want”. And so forth. She certainly kept things interesting.

 

Then we got to walk across the stage, be handed our diplomas, smile and walk off the other side. Somehow that completed the rite of passage, and we were then officially graduates of Brigham Young University! TA DA!