Rob Graduated!!

I am so proud of Rob and him completing Phase I of his schooling. I wouldn't have missed his big day for anything in the world!!

Ready to go see my man graduate!

Because I am totally afraid of showing up to anything late, I left the house at 7:30 for a 9 am graduation. Thinking I still had an hour on base until graduation started, I stopped by Burger King for some breakfast (I still love french toast sticks from there like I did as a child). Well, they decided that they were working on their own schedule so it took awhile to even get my breakfast. As soon as I got it, I headed over to get a good parking spot. I figured 45 minutes before graduation, parking across the way would be open. I was wrong!!! Both parking lots Rob told me to park in were jammed pack. So here I am, driving around base, trying to find a darn place to park. Finally, I thought about where I used to drop Rob off for physical therapy for his back. Not too far of a walk I thought. Well, I got there and got pretty much the last parking spot. Frustrated, I start the hike back up to the building where graduation was, in my high heels.

I finally get up the hill and inside the building and find no body in there to tell me how to get to the room where graduation was. There I was, standing in the hall with an elderly lady who looked more lost than I was. She was there for "The Navy graduation". I figured it was the same graduation, I was right. I did see a sign for the auditorium but the sign pointed both ways so I found myself not sure of which way to go (I felt like Dorthy when she meets the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz). Finally, a lady walked by and we asked her where the graduations were held and she pointed us in the right direction.

I go to open the door and see one of the soldiers we are friends with sitting with everyone else. I then notice that they were calling off names. My first thought: They started graduation earlier than they said!! I was furious! Then, the Chief walked over to me and said they were just finishing up practice. He asked who my family member was and I told him. He got Rob's attention to let him know I was there. Apparently he made a comment to Rob about how nicely dressed I was. I almost didn't dress up because originally the soldiers were suppose to wear their Class A uniform, I had picked my dress that I also wore for our 1st date of the 12 Months for this occasion. When Rob told me Tuesday night that they were wearing their ACUs to graduation, I was super upset. A graduation is important and they should have dressed to meet that occasion. So anyways, I fought all night with myself on what I was going to wear. I finally decided I didn't care what everyone else was wearing, I was going to show my support of Rob by what I wore. And yes, I was the most dressed up of all of the family members.

Back to graduation...I saw that there was only 2 other people already there so I sat down behind them because I wasn't sure where we could sit. Not long after I sat down, more families started showing up including the family that we've become friends with and they sat with me. It's so nice to be able to talk to people again!!!

Eventually, graduation started. It was a nice, short ceremony. It started with one the soldiers singing the National Anthem, he did really great especially since English is not his first language. Then, one of the instructors talked to the soldiers about how they are the silent healers because no body will ever see them but that they are very important with diagnosing what is going on. Then they began calling off the names of the soldiers and they walked across the stage for the families to see.

Our last name starting with M was actually surprisingly close to the end. After waiting for what seemed like forever (probably about 5 or so minutes), it was time for Rob to walk across the stage.

 

There's my husband. One step closer to becoming a lab tech. Not sure why he didn't look up so I could get a good picture of him!!!!

After everyone walked across the stage, everyone stood to sing the Navy song and the Army song (all the soldiers were either in the Navy or Army). Then, the class presented their instructors with two plaques with their class picture on it to thank them for all the hard work that they had done over the past 6-7 months. Finally, our soldiers were ours to congratulate!!!

 

 

I had to get a picture of us to celebrate Rob's big day and all of his accomplishments!!

 

After we talked for a few minutes and said good bye to the ones who were ready to move onto their next base for Phase II, we headed back to our cars to head up to the company. This meant, I had to make the long walk back to my car in my heels which by now were making my feet hurt. The road I had to walk on has construction going on at one of the buildings which means they have to bring their big construction vehicles down the road which tears up to the road. This made it very uncomfortable to walk back to the car but I did make it.

 

After that, Rob had to go to his new unit to begin signing papers to start Phase II. The other family and I waited around so we could all go to lunch, this turned into a longer wait than we had expected. Around noon, they were finally done, able to go to lunch, and then were done for the day.

 

Rob and I ended up taking a nap for an hour when we got home. After that, we had a lazy night of watching TV with the furry kids. It was an early night for us even after the nap.

 

Once again, I am so proud of Rob. I can't wait until August to see him finish schooling all together.