Graduation

Hello all!  What a week it has been!  Chip and I were all set to fly out to Phoenix last Sunday to spend some time in Phoenix with Harry for packing and partying!  It's GRADUATION time!  

Guess who woke up at 12:15 a.m. on Sunday with the stupid stomach virus Chip had on Friday?  You remember....the virus where his organs and all bodily fluids were trying to leave his body by any means necessary.

Me!  It was me!  

It was awful.  I threw up so much.  Remember, when I said Chip thought he was dying?  I so completely understand that now.  You know how you always feel sicker in the middle of the night?  I know I sure did.  I thought at one point I was going to pass out.  It was the worst.  

About 6:00 in the morning, I started texting some of my girlfriends asking for their prayers.  Specifically that 1) I would survive the stomach virus of 2018 and 2) that I could change my travel arrangements, because there was no way in the world I could get on a plane to fly across the country when I was barely dragging myself from the bed to the bathroom.  

As per usual with this amazing group of friends, they sprang into action.  They were praying and sending me encouragement, Connie called Southwest to change my flights for me (even got me a little rebate on my flight!), there was a bag of get well supplies dropped off at my doorstep with Pedialyte, Pedialyte Ice Pops, Soup, Crackers.  They checked on me all through the day, they offered to run errands, bring Chip food, just over and above.  They are the BEST!  I felt better almost immediately, having tossed out my lifeline and having them reach back.  

After a wreck of a Sunday, Monday dawned a new day.  I was not 100%.  Honestly, I was probably about 50%, but we got it together and made it to the airport.  

My little Chip was the best nurse.  He took great care of me!  Well, except for when he was trying to cover me up with my weighted blanket and damn near knocked me unconscious!  We had a hard laugh about that!

All my prayers were answered and the flight to Phoenix was free of any stomach virus antics!  We got picked up by Harry at the airport and I went immediately to the hotel to rest up and relax. I really wanted to be much better for Graduation Tuesday.  Callie and her girls stepped in for me and got Harry's apartment packed up for him to move home.  So grateful they were there to help him in my place.

Tuesday morning, I woke up and felt pretty good.  YAY!  We stayed at a Residence Inn and they had a little kitchenette with a full size coffee pot.  This should really be required in all hotels.  Made me so happy. 

Chip and I went out for a little stroll around Harry's downtown campus.  All we kept saying was....doesn't it seem like we just dropped him off?  Four years flew by. 

ASU was such a great fit for Harry and I am not sure his college experience could have been any better.  So proud of that kid and grateful to this university for creating an environment where he was able to thrive.

I took the kids out for a celebration lunch at Pomo Pizza - one of Harry's favorites.  It was a balmy 104 degrees in Phoenix.  My word.  Don't even tell me it was a dry heat. I do not want to hear it.

I took this great "stare into the sun and burn your retinas" picture in the parking lot.  

What is wrong with me? 

This delicious soup hit the spot - even though it was 104 outside. I was running on fumes and this was tasty and mild and easy to eat.  And there was bread.  Bread, bread, bread.

Next door was a place called Luna Gelato.  Malarie bought dessert for everyone! Super sweet!   

I had a little cup of dairy free lemon.  It was refreshing and zippy. 

A little bit better picture of us leaving.  Some nice shade.  Eyes are able to be open. That's better. 

We went back to our hotel room and let Harry open a couple of gifts. TWO cards from Mer and Grandpa!  He loved them.  I also let him see the project I had been working on.  It was a movie!  All of our family members that couldn't make it to Phoenix for graduation, sent me video clips of their best wishes for Tyler and I made them into a movie.  All by myself!  It was made in iMovie, which is ridiculously easy to use.  It was a whole 7 minutes long.  I felt really fancy.  It got some laughs and I called it a success! 

Then it was time for graduation. The ceremony was just a couple of blocks from our hotel, so we walked over even though it felt like walking inside of a convection oven.  Hot air everywhere.  As soon as we got through the blessed air conditioned doors we found our graduate waiting in the holding area!  He was wearing tennis shoes and a Celtics jersey under his gown!

All smiles. 

Harry with one of his buddies and also roommate, Kyle.  They met the first day of Freshman orientation and have been friends through it all.  Both graduating with Sports Journalism degrees.  Can't wait to see where they end up! 

Too cool for school. 

The ceremony was great - not too long.  They kept things moving really well.  I sat way at the top of a section and close to the exit.  Only had to go to the bathroom three times!  

Then it was time to put a hug on my boy! 

He did it! 

We did it!  

My heart could just burst with pride.  So many of my friends have kids graduating from college and from high school and for me, those have been two very different experiences. Thinking back, I was much more emotional during Harry's high school graduation, probably because he was leaving the nest and going to be living away from me for the first time ever.  And not just away from me, far, far away from me.  This college graduation felt much happier.  Like a solid "Way to Go!"  I only got teared up once, when the dean asked the parents to stand and the graduates gave us a round of applause for the help and support we gave them as they went through college. 

In full disclosure, there was also the undercurrent of our broken family and separate celebrations and my boys going back and forth between their parents.  It was not great.  There were several moments during this happy occasion that I wanted to punch something really hard or lay in the floor and cry.  Not many moments, but they were there for sure. But we made it.  We can do hard things. We celebrated.  We cheered.  College degree is in hand!  

Then the trip home.  I had my maiden voyage with Uber. Who am I?  Making movies - calling Ubers?  I have ridden in an Uber with my nieces on some of our girls trips, but I have never scheduled one myself. So easy and convenient.  I was worried there might be a glitch so we headed to the airport early.  Not one glitch.  We got to the airport in about eleven minutes for the low, low price of $10!  My travel partner was not happy about being at our gate two and a half hours early, but too bad! 

Just one day later, this tall drink of water rolled into my driveway and four years of his life threw up in my garage.  I could not be happier.  Seriously.  So damn happy to have Harry here.  I have missed him. 

I have done 14 loads of his laundry and we are putting every bin through a Swedish Death Cleaning process before anything makes it into the house. 

To wrap this up, let me give a huge shout out to my tribe for praying me through this weekend.  I honestly could not have done it without them.  So much love in my heart for my people.