Post-Commencement fatigue

The hardest 4 hours of my year is commencement.  It's a little like a sprint through barely controlled chaos.  With a lot of people.

Let me take you through my day.

Commencement day for me starts at 6am.  That's the earliest I can get my hands on the graduation lists.  I then spend a few hours comparing the three other lists that I have been sent over the last week, adding information, taking away information.  Praying that it's all correct.

After a leisurely breakfast, and dog walk, we left for Williamsburg.  In past years we were able to make it to the department ceremony site in the hours between the end of the church service (We have our ceremony in a local church) and the ending of the main ceremony.  No such luck.  This year the had pushed up the main ceremony so much that people were done with time to spare before we were even allowed in the church.

Of course there were people inside when we got there.

taken by the Spousal Equivalent

That started the sprint.  I had to help set up the sanctuary (moving parents that had camped out in our reserved seating area), hang signs that pointed people to rest rooms, help an ill parent into the building and to her seat, get the other diplomas, prizes and other things to the proper people, help decorate the fellowship hall....

taken by the Spousal Equivalent

Thankfully I wasn't alone.  There were a team of us working to make the day run smoothly.  While I went to hand out programs and give directions to the graduates (this is why I always wear a dress), the others poured drinks and set out trays of cookies.


The ceremony went.....   All too quickly.

But before I knew it, things were over.  I had walked almost 3 miles, much of it at a sprint.

We cleaned up the Fellowship Hall (which took longer than anticipated.... round tables roll....).  We had WAY more cookies than we through we'd have left.

Anyone want some cookies?  I have tons!

As quickly as it started, the parents and students and faculty were gone.  The hall was put away.  The dishes were washed.  And we went out for dinner.

The 4 hours of controlled chaos were over.

And man am I sore!

Today's plan?  Cleaning.  I'm having company this week!