Graduation!!!

Holy cow...where to start!? Monday seems like a good place, but it was truly uneventful other than during one of our drills I got hit in the forehead and had a large lump that thankfully didn't turn colors. Of course the only thing I was worried about was it showing up in all of the graduation photos. I had to deal with a headache for a few days, but that was all.

Tuesday was the big day that all of my family would be getting into town. After picking up my mother from the airport we went to dinner with my father. If you know anything about my family, you know that it has been quite sometime since they had last seen each other. Dinner was great and I couldn't have asked for anything more. I ended the evening with a quick hello to my other family as they checked into their hotel.

Wednesday was graduation day. After a quick lunch my class and I filtered into the auditorium for our last rehearsal and awaited our guests to arrive. I was proud to be one of the only trainees with family that was going to attend. There were 9 in my group and only 3 others that filled the family section. Since the Deputy Director of our agency was in attendance they had pulled all of the classes associated from our agency from their studies as well as the faculty and staff. The auditorium was packed which gave most of us the chills finally making it feel very real. I think I'm still in shock that I made it through this program. but I did and it feels great.

Thursday and Friday was filled with 8 hours a day of Spanish class. I thought the academy was challenging, but Spanish is a whole new beast. We get about a weeks worth of information in one day and are quizzed on it the next. It seems impossible to pass, but in the history of this curriculum there has only one person who has failed. They tell us that he just didn't try.

Saturday I took off to Savannah with my mother, 2 aunts, and uncle. I was so disappointed that Paula Deen's restaurant was completely booked by the time we got to it. We all had a great time soaking up the history and doing a bit of souvenir shopping.

Sunday my mother and I went to one of the islands near by for lunch and a little sight seeing. The weather was perfect so we were able to eat on the roof top patio at one of the local restaurants. I felt bad later that day when I took her to the airport to go back to her negative degree weather. With that the week was over and it was time to get back into study mode.

Mom, Dad, Aunt Camille, Auntie Jo, Uncle John, Uncle Frank, Aunt Jeanne, Ian, and Taryn.....Thank you all for taking the time out of your busy lives to celebrate this day with me. I cannot put into words how it made me feel that you could witness one of the happiest and most proud days of my life. You all truly mean the world to me.

xoxo