"Not to be ministered unto, but to minister"

I know, I know, after calling you people out for not updating while we were in San Antonio last weekend I’ve been slack about posting, but I have an excuse. I’ve been in Boston for the past three days to attend my sister’s graduation from Wellesley College. I’m writing this post from the Philadelphia airport which is a story for later, but at least I’ve know been to PA.

After returning from San Antonio late on Monday night I had every intention of only going to work for a couple of hours on Tuesday for a conference call and to get a few things done, well that didn’t happen and I stayed at work all day which led to me waking up at 4:00 AM on Wednesday to pack as I had to wash clothes from the previous trip and had softball (we won). The flight to Boston via DC was uneventful and I rendezvoused with my mom at Logan around noon to head west to Wellesley. Wednesday we didn’t do much other than relax.

Thursday was a busy day with a picnic that was moved inside due to the chance of rain and the baccalaureate ceremony. Unfortunately I had a conference call during the baccalaureate and since we were only allowed one ticket I skipped it but everyone said it was great (normally I wouldn’t have participated on the call but since we’re closing early next week and this project is very problematic I needed to stay in the loop). After the ceremony, Dad, Matt (Emily’s boyfriend), and I moved most of her stuff out of the dorm into my dad’s Yukon XL. Luckily she had whittled down her stuff this year and was the most painless dorm move I’ve experienced. That night was the big family graduation dinner which featured the guest of honor, mom, dad, my aunt, Matt, and me. We went to a great local restaurant in Watertown called Stellina. I had the honey mustard glazed salmon which was better than the time I attempted to make it and some excellent calamari for an appetizer.

Friday morning was graduation and a beautiful day in Massachusetts. Commencement was in a humongous white tent, the largest tent I’ve ever been in. It definitely earned the moniker of the “Big Top.” The ceremony lasted for a couple of hours with Madeline Albright (a 1959 alum) delivering the address and all 560 graduates walking across the stage. Emily seemed very glad to graduate and we were all beaming with joy and pride. For audio of the speeches go here.



After graduation Dad and I ventured to Concord to visit the Walden Pond State Reservation and see the site of Thoreau’s respite in the woods. The pond (actually I’d call it a lake but pond sounds better) was clear and was being enjoyed by swimmers all along its banks from secluded rock steps to the water’s edge. It was hard to imagine that it was an oasis of trees amidst clear cut agricultural land in the 1800s as the forest has reclaimed much of the area. Unfortunately we were a on a tight time frame so we weren’t able to hike around the entire lake but we accomplished our goal after four years of traveling to the area.



That night Emily attended a fancy dinner at the Boston Public Library sponsored by the college trustees to honor the retiring college president after fourteen years in office. After chauferring her and a friend to the dinner, dad, Matt, and I drove over to Cambridge and had dinner at Emily’s favorite Boston area restaurant the Border Café which is a mexican resturant with a cajun twist. I had the best fajitas I’ve ever had with blackened chicken and the other two enjoyed their food as well. After dinner we walked around Harvard Square, campus, and just enjoyed the beautiful late Spring weather.

Now to why I’m in Philadelphia, my original travel plans were to fly from Boston to NY LaGuardia and then onto Raleigh. However, when I checked my flight status this morning I found out my first flight to NYC was cancelled. When I arrived at Logan, the ticket agent said the flight was cancelled because of a lack of crew. Well I guess that’s as good a reason as any to cancel a flight. She redirected me to Philadelphia and then I’ll arrive in Raleigh between 5:00 and 6:00 PM (it’s 2:00 as I type this) which puts me back home about 2.5 hours later than anticipated but that’s fine because I’m typing this post while I wait. While my travel plans were frustrating this morning, I’m not letting it get me down as I had a great time seeing Emily graduate! For those of you that don’t know, she’ll be working for Bank of American in Uptown Charlotte for the next two years with plans to go to medical school afterwards. This summer she’ll be at home during June and will then travel to NYC for training all of July and will live in a hotel in Time Square. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me. I hope she likes it.

As for San Antonio, that trip was a lot of fun. I’ve come to the conclusion that we to need to have somebody get married once a year from here on out so we can have one big WCF/Tech vacation reunion. In lieu of a recap, here are the top five sayings/events from the weekend.

5. Where am I sleeping?
4. “French kiss” – Me overhearing and misunderstanding Daryl talking to Melissa about her manicure and French tips.
3. Chris, Meagan and Eric: “... in Miami Dolphins clothes and ... in cleanliness and messiness”
2. Melissa: “Hey, there’s a drive through beer store!” In reference to the “Beer 'N All” drive through with the skanky girls where you can get margaritas to go.
1. “I do”



Here are the links to the trip photo galleries:

Johnson-Schwartz Wedding

Graduation

Walden Pond