Current mood:

accomplished

Commencement [kuh-mens-muhnt] (n.) - A beginning; a start.
I graduated tonight. And now i can't sleep.

Honestly, liquid adreneline must be coursing through my veins, because my brain is on fire. It's 12:11, and i'm uploading my graduation pictures to facebook and tweeting about the evening. Oh, and i'm watching Whale Wars, because there's nothing else on at 12:11 in the morning. The sad part is: I've seen this episode before.

But, anyway, back to what i was saying. I can't sleep. Which is apparently okay now, since i graduated high school and don't have to work tomorrow...i can stay up as late as i want. I'm in my pajamas with my teeth brushed and retainers in (don't laugh, i still wear them every night) but i can't sleep. I guess because i have so much to do. Not really, but i feel obligated to upload pictures and tell everybody who couldn't make it to graduation all about it!!! Because it was perfect.

All day, i'd been flipping out because they predicted thunderstorms. And, if that happened, the ceremony would have been in the auditorium, and each student gets only three guests. The rest would have to watch it on a screen in the gym, which is LAME. So all my family who came went out to Shady Maple (which is the most fabulous all you can eat schmorgasbord ever), and i was freaking the whole time about rain, even though it was sunny. Around three, my mom told me that the OJR website said commencement would be held outside. YAY!

So i got ready, and we took a billion pictures (see my facebook, haha) and my parents and grandma drove me to graduation (so they could save seats for the rest of the crew coming). I had to go to an assigned room to check in and line up. But we were there an hour and a half early (per instruction), so we all just hung out in the hallway and visited each other's classrooms. A bunch of the honored teachers (each graduate gets to invite their most influential teacher to the ceremony) came to visit, so i got to talk to a bunch of my old teachers, which was nice. My favorite spanish teacher ever (who was out on maternity leave for half of this year) came back, and all of us AP Spanish kids told her how much we missed her. and we got pictures with her and stuff.

Then one of the teachers had us line up, but it would up being too early, so we ruined the line by going and talking to other people. I stood in line right near the valedictorians and saludatorians (some of my really close friends) so me and Kristen (my AMAZING AMAZING best friend since FIFTH GRADE) hung around with them, contemplating the increasingly darkening clouds in the sky. Finally, it was time to go, and we all cheered, and it did like a wave of sound as it carried down the line in the hallway. The girls were in all the classrooms in a hallway upstairs, and the boys were in the hall directly below us, so we could alternate (a pair of girls, a pair of guys, and so on) so the two colors of our gowns (girls white, guys red) would alternate and look cool.

We all walked down to the field, and i got really excited. I kept looking at back at Kristen, who was only a few pairs away from me. Then they introduced the class of 2009, and we all walked across the stadium to our chairs. Once the ceremony started, it was so nice. All the speeches were interesting and funny and so true. A lot of the people talked about how talented our class is, which is flattering. I consider myself blessed to be a member of it.

I actually have a full memory of when i actually got my diploma cover. I remember hearing my name, walking across the platform and shaking hands with the schoolboard president/Myra/Dr Marchini, and they all smiled and me, and i remember walking across the field and back to my seat. I didn't go on autopilot (which is what i normally do when i'm in front of a ton of people) which i was proud of myself for. After they got through everyone, we all flipped our tassels to the left at once, then all us choir kids sang the alma mater. Then we sort of awkwardly tossed our caps/waved our caps/decided not to because we had to turn them in to get our diplomas afterwards. i sort of waved mine around but it never actually left my hand. Then we filed out and went to the parking lot where there we hugs all around. It wasn't too sad, because i'm going to see most of them again at grad parties and when we all come back to visit for the choir concerts/musical. I also talked to Mr. Venza, the teacher i invited. He was my first teacher in the district, and i met Kristen in his class. Hence us becoming best friends!

We went home after talking to everybody i wanted to talk to, and we ate cupcakes from the bakery. They were YUMMY, and very Katie Holmes. Then everyone sort of went to bed, except for me. because i just graduated. and i'm excited about it.

So that's basically my June 12th, 2009 for you! Now i have to go out into the world and make something of my future. Wish me luck!

Love from a high school graduate,
Kaitlin