Pomp and Circumstance

Even though Steven technically graduated last September, he never walked at graduation, so in order to have closure, we made the trek up to Boston last week. We had a fabulous trip--and I didn't even have the baby even though I was 37 weeks along! I certainly got a lot of comments and stares, but I'm used to that. : )

Thanks to the Theobalds who hosted us (it takes courage). Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of them even though we did video record the wonderful play Sam and Amber wrote, directed, and produced with all the kids. Someday we'll figure out how to add video to our blog.

On Tuesday we also failed to take pictures at the picnic the Kaufmans put on with us (they were in town for Trent's graduation). Tons of people came and the kids had a blast. Here's some of the people I remember so you can imagine us all frolicking together: the Kaufmans, Jared & Mary Christensen, Andrew & Katherine Poulsen, the Fletchers, the Dionnes, the Theobalds, the Walthers, the Smalleys, Monique Doreus (aka Bonnie) & Rodnick, the Hammonds, Elaine & Jackson, and probably more I can't remember. I adore being with friends, so this was a wonderful gift. Thanks to all who came!

Wednesday was the first and fanciest of 3 graduation ceremonies. Steven's program HST (Health Sciences and Technology) is a joint program between Harvard Medical School and MIT, so the only way to have everyone at the same graduation is to hold their own hooding ceremony. This year it was at the Harvard Club of Boston--about as fancy as it gets:

Sam came with me to this ceremony and even admitted, "It wasn't as boring as I thought it would be--I didn't even have to pull out my Harry Potter book."

Sammy took this picture--not bad, huh? We're so grateful Steven's mom Angie could come for this special day. Thank you, Angie!

Here's Steven (in the middle) right after being hooded, holding his diploma and shaking hands with the directors of HST. The HST ceremony was only about 100 people, so they read a bio about each person as they got hooded and gave everyone lots of attention.

We're so proud of Steven and so happy to celebrate and have closure of his PhD. Mid-ceremony Steven kindly lent his robes to an MD student who had forgotten his. When Steven put it all back on he got the hood upside-down (it's supposed to be blue velvet). But the MD hoods are red, so luckily no one noticed.

Quite a nice spread in a room with portraits of JFK, other famous Massachusetts politicians, and even George Washington standing next to the backside of a horse (not his most flattering pose!).

Us with Cathy Modica, the mastermind behind all great HST events, not to mention everything else that happens at HST. She has always been incredibly kind to us. We'll miss you!

Many years ago we hosted this great couple, Adam and Lisa Treat, when Lisa was interviewing for HST. Here we are all those years later. They're still just as wonderful as ever.

Sam as minute man.

Angie took all the really great pictures like this one.

Steven's diploma is HUGE! (like 16 by 20") I'm glad because it sure felt like a hefty experience when we were going through it. We still stop every once in a while in awe that he really did finish after all those years. I just can't seem to find my name on the diploma anywhere--an oversight, I'm sure. : )

After picking up our kids from the Smalleys (thank you, Pam!) we went to see our old church building that burned down 2 weeks ago. It was so sad to see the burned-out shell. But we heard that the church is planning to keep the brick walls and rebuild inside that frame. We also saw the new stake center that is currently being constructed in East Cambridge (sorry no photo), which filled us with hope.

Across the street, we walked around Longfellow's house and its beautiful gardens.

Ben didn't want to leave, either out of love for the garden or exhaustion (possibly both).

After dropping Steven's mom off in Providence for her flight home, we ate at one of our favorite places--Anna's Taqueria.
That night I had a magnificent Girls' Night Out with some of the best people in the world! I think heaven will be like that--being surrounded by all the people I love. In case you can't tell, this particular heavenly group consists of Anna Walther, Sarah Nichol, Margaret Moore, Jonina Mazzeo, Sharon Clarke, Bev King, Jen Magleby-Lambert, Liz Hammond, Elaine Jackson, Elizabeth Harmer Dionne, and Mary Beth Fletcher. Rosie Kaufman also showed up. Thanks to all who could come--it was the highlight of my trip!

Thursday was the MIT Hooding Ceremony. MIT hoods all 600 PhD & ScD grads, so all they have time to do is read the name and quickly put on the hood. Here is Steven with the hood coming over his head. (We're hoping that getting hooded twice isn't like a double negative and that it still counts.) : )

Before (less distinguished):

After (more distinguished):
After picking up our kids from the Plants (thank you a ton, Terese!), we went to visit our old stomping grounds at Eastgate (MIT family housing) where we lived for 7 years. Here we are with Carla, the awesome House Manager.
We love the view from the penthouse lounge--the best-kept secret in Boston! We will be sad to miss our first Fourth of July without this view!
For anyone interested, the Eastgate committee now has 8 (yes, count em', 8!) positions (not the measly 5 when we started), and someone tech-minded has been making decisions b/c there's a new huge flat-screen TV on the wall, a surround-sound audio system, and huge speakers for (I assume) dance parties. Oh, and new curtains.The Hancock tower is my favorite. The weather vane on the smaller Hancock is my 2nd fave.
The Prudential and Back Bay.
You can even see the State House's gold dome, the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade and the Duck Boats in the water.

Here's the progress on the new Sloan Business School building for which we endured horrible construction noise and dust, not to mention parking nightmares. All I can say is, Eastgate better get the promised air conditioning after all of that! (Okay, so I admit the building looks like it will be very nice.)Thursday night our good friends Ned & Katherine Codd had us over with the Hicks family. It was really nice for Sam to see his friends Jackson, Graham, and Ben from his old Elementary school. We enjoyed excellent food and adult conversation so much that we only took one picture that night:
Finally, on Friday we attended the big MIT Commencement with all 2500 undergrads and grads on Killian court in front of the great dome. Deval Patrick (Mass governor) gave an underwhelming talk, but the pomp and circumstance certainly made up for it. Even though the names were read extremely fast, it still took about 3 1/2 hours to get through everything. You wouldn't believe how swollen my feet were by the end! I'm happy to say that we feel like we finally got enough closure and were even ready to come home to Baltimore (which I wasn't sure about when we left).

Diploma number 2 is completely different than the first, but we decided not to ask questions and just take it and run. : )

Thanks to Rosie Kaufman who watched our kids when Elizabeth Dionne got sick Friday morning, and to Anna Walther and the Westgate bunch who took the second shift. You are all heros! And thanks to everyone who made this trip possible. We had a great time! Oh, and thanks to baby #4 who was so accommodating as to not make his arrival while on the road. We feel very blessed.