theBODIEblog

Saturday, August 2, 2008 was commencement. I left the house with my parents at 8 a.m. to be at the Armory in time to register and get in line. Eden stayed at home and helped Ashley get ready. This is how Eden spent the 30 minutes that she and her Momma were alone before the ceremony. She made a noise only when Ashley left the room. Otherwise, she was content with George the Giraffe and watching her Momma get ready.

Ashley's experience during the ceremony was drastically different from mine. Ashley, Eden, Sarah, and Jennie watched the procession of graduates then had a seat (they weren't allowed to enter the middle of the auditorium where my parents had seats saved). They also got to hear President Cordova address the audience. Then, there was an explosion. No, not one of the firey kind ... one of the poopy persuasion. It happened early on in the ceremony.

Ashley got up and changed the explosion in the stairwell on the side of the auditorium - she could still hear what was going on as to not miss me getting hooded. Right as President Cordova announced they would award the Ph.D. degrees and the candidates would be hooded, Ashley finished up changing the diaper and putting Eden into her second outfit for the day. Indeed, she was back in time to see the event ... and so was Eden.

I'm not sure if it was the excitement of Daddy getting a Ph.D. or the work it took to make Mommy change a diaper and outfit 30 minutes into commencement. Whatever it was, Eden was quite exhausted.



This is also when Ashley discovered another world, one where they let kids run wild, babies are rocked, and coloring books are a plenty. Where is this world you ask? It is on the floor in the lobby of Elliot Hall of Music and exists simultaneously with the world of commencement.



My parents also spent some time in this new world waiting for the awarding of undergraduate degrees to be over. Although something tells me they already knew it existed.

After the ceremony, Eden got to meet a friend of ours Ryan Oetting. Ryan just received his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology and will practice as a psychologist.

After leaving the Hall of Music, we headed to Beering (where we spent much of our time at Purdue) for some pictures.

At Purdue, there is a tradition of graduates running through a fountain. You can't mess with tradition, right?!?

After getting slightly wet, it was back home for lunch. On the way, Eden wanted to say hi to her friend Jennie and to wear Daddy's hat.