Graduations

My little sister graduated from college this past weekend. It was an amazing and fun time. The drive up to Chicago was a little bit terrifying. I happened to cross paths with some scary storms on the drive... The star marks my location.... the radar... marks the weather... the strangest thing was when I entered the city, there were stretches of highway where the lights were out. and to be driving on the express lanes with no lights overhead and torrential downpours at 10 30 pm is a little scary when you can barely see the tail lights in front of you or the lane markings on the road. but i made it.... and watched District B13 at home with the sibs. Funny thing though, I was talking to my advisor earlier and she said she had left just an hour before i did, and missed the storms completely. i swear, my life is just a series of bad timing.

Kankakee storm system

Chicago Storm System

But the weather let up and it was a beautiful Saturday. Went out at 8 to go take some photos... it was glorious!

Yayyy!!!!!

Stole of Gratitude

The graduation ceremony was held indoors in an unairconditioned arena. mind you it was over 90 degrees outside, and thousands of people were packed into this one room. The graduates were wearing their heavy polyester gowns and sitting amongs other sweaty peers.... needless to say getting outside after over two hours of speeches and calling out names and majors, it was great to go outside into the scorching sun!

The speeches this year were brief and very well spoken. The first words of advice being, live in the now and appreciate what is happening now, because the future will always be coming up. I forget sometimes, how we always look to what the future will be like, and simply ignore every amazing thing that happens to us on a day to day basis. The second words of advice were to make an effort to keep in touch with your friends. They are your peers and colleagues, and as it takes time to maintain your family, maintaining your friends will help you in the future. The third talk was less memorable... perhaps it was the heat and dehydration. Graduation ceremonies really wake the sadness inside me. They are such finite markers of when you finish something, and then you're left with friends dispersed across the country and the world, with no more real guidance and no real schedule and end to look forward to... It's a scary time, but it's a good time because you can then finally close that chapter and turn the page to start a new one, ready and waiting for you to fill the pages with experience and life.

After the ceremony, we walked for hours to the beach, got kicked off the beach, and then went to the Baha'i temple and sat in silence for some time before going to dinner.

Sails

Beautiful Temple

The drive back was pleasant. Here's a view of the sun set from my side view mirror.

Sunset

And with that, my short... incredibly short stint in Chicago ended. Congratulations, my dear sister.... your whole life is ahead of you!