Graduation Bonanza

Alright, so Saturday night we all finally graduated. There were many factors involved that created this somewhat less than nostalgic atmophere though. For example, while standing in line for AN HOUR waiting patiently for the march to begin, I turned to Chad and said something along the lines of "Damn, how did they manage to get us all to line up in alphabetical order like we were in Kindergarten?" But, as I lay awake very early Sunday morning trying desperately to get to some sleep, another thought kept popping into my head: Not only did we voluntarily revert back to childhood by lining up in ABC order, but they finally succeeded in getting us in uniforms! This is a task that the district has been trying to force upon our class since we were in the sixth grade! Anyways, onto the ceremony--- we all walked and stood for a ridiculous amount of time and when it was time for the Salutatorian and Valedictorian speeches, I found the situation suddenly very comical. You see, Chad got up and did his speech (which was excellent by the way) but I couldn't take my attention off of his hat and tassel. He would say something and then SWING!, SWISH!, POP! right in the eye. The tassel was entertainment enough you would think, but nooo it got better. The entire speech Chad's hat slowly crept forward, leaning dangerously close to the microphone and threatening to ruin the dramatic scenario. At one point I thought that the cap might actually just be hungry and simply be attempting to eat Chad's eyebrows off his face, but then his speech came to an end and he cautiously sat back down while Casey presented her farewell. So while I'm sitting there recovering from the attack of the killer cap and tassel, Casey speaks and my attention was suddenly drawn to her cap situation which was the exact opposite of Chad's. While Chad's hat would sooner have fell onto the microphone, Casey's was teetering fatally on the back of her skull and to be honest, I don't know what kept it from sliding off her head. I guess it was just another example of our diversities bringing us together. Everything else pretty much went by procedure excepting of course Dupins very unconventional half-hug "Good life" and exit, Sylvester's last chance at showing off by doing 13 backflips in a row across the Colesium floor, and my uncle being the first person out on the floor to hug me.....but wait, he's not even really my uncle. Hmm....My step-dad, Mr. Manly Man himself, being the first person to cry (crying so hard he couldn't even say anything to me, all he could do was hug me). So I'm sure everyone else went out and partied themselves to death at Riverfest or God knows where else, but I was quite content with my late night Waffle House breakfast/dinner. Daniel stepped forward and did what I wanted to do, but thought might not go over well- the final hug. I guess you really can't say "FINAL" because I mean Hell, we're all pretty much staying here and it's a small state (only growing smaller) so we WILL see each other again....most of us anyway. Just like we all still see the graduates of 2002,2003, and 2004 still hangin around WalMart and gas stations. I guess we all want to stay that from here on out life will never be the same, but years of experience have shown me the unfortunate truth: it won't change unless you get out of this God-forsaken state and stay out. It's just a matter of will power I suppose cuz as much as we desperately need to breathe our own air and be independent from everything we've been suffocated by for 18 years, there's a part in all of us that just can't quite disconnect and volunatrily isolate ourselves and for the record, I'm jealous of those who can.