Let the Graduation Festivities Begin! – Saturday, May 15, 2010

Saturday morning Larry and I we’re able to sleep-in a little before heading off to South Bend – the plan was to meet up at some point in on Campus, since we were going down to ND in 3 cars. Unfortunately, Carol and Johnny couldn’t make it because Johnny was sick – but I'm happy to report Johnny is feeling much better! Carol and Johnny: we missed you!

The game plan was to meet up on campus before the commencement mass at 5:00pm. Larry and I needed to check into our hotel first, which was in Goshen, about a half hour away (or so we thought). Unfortunately we completely forgot about the time change (ND is in EST) and we hit local road construction, so by the time we got to the hotel, changed, got back in the car, hit road construction/traffic again, it was passed our meet-up time.

SO…while the rest of the group made it to the Joyce Center for the mass, when Larry and I arrived at 4:30pm we were directed to the North Dome (Hockey rink) for the mass which would be shown on closed-circuit TV. But the funny thing was, we initially didn’t realize we weren’t in the main area for the mass and we’re wondering where everyone was and actually wondering out loud…”Gee, why did the university encourage people to come early for seats…there’s PLENTY here!” Oh well. But Larry and I did enjoy the mass from said hockey rink and we had plenty of seats to choose from! :)

After mass, we did manage to meet up with everyone for dinner at Carmella's Restaurant. This was definitely the place to go because EVERYONE was there – I’m not kidding…the place was packed – thank goodness we made reservations awhile ago!



Dinner was fabulous: just a lovely night of fun, food and even a serenade of the ND alma mater song by Eric, Charlie and Emily! I was quite impressed, because I will fully admit that I don’t think I EVER remember learning Dayton’s song and I had 4 wonderful years there – either that or I’m just blocking it out, but honestly I have no recollection of it!



After a fun-filled night and with full-bellies, we all wanted to see Eric’s dorm room, so we headed to campus to check out the digs.



I will say that as soon as we entered the dorm I was hit with memories of UD and my own dorm room – kind of a sweet remembrance of years ago and then being smacked in the face with reality that I don’t think I could ever live in a door room again! But I will say it was nice to see Eric’s room: the famous/infamous orange couch we have all heard about (Eric: I will admit that I actually like the pattern – very fashion forward!), the mini-fridge, Nanna’s ND-colored throw that she made, the bunk bed, the sink in the room and last but not least the flat screen TV – which I will fully admit I am very jealous of.

And lest we not forget…the college guy we almost walked into on the way out of the dorm who was walking back from the shower in his towel, which we all had a laugh because quite frankly, yup, that would happen to us. The scene might have been lost on Lydia, but it was amusing for the rest of us.

After the trip back to memory lane, we all headed back to our hotels to get some sleep before the graduation ceremonies in the am.