Graduation Day

After a Saturday of 90 degrees, Sunday morning dawned cloudy and cool. It finally felt like I was in North Dakota.

We had a leisurely morning and headed over to graduation around 1:00. The ex was calling before we could even park telling us where to sit. She had apparently saved seats for all of us. Wasn’t that nice?
I have never been to a graduation that displayed such disrespect for others and the administrators who were holding the ceremony. In spite of being told to hold applause so we could get through the graduates quickly, you still had a few that blew air horns, screamed, blew whistles etc. It really messed up the kid who followed the family that wanted to pretend they were at a football game. I would have been severely ticked if I missed my child’s name being called because of the lack of respect from the family ahead of me.
At the end of the ceremony it was complete and utter chaos. Instead of marching out and around the coliseum, the graduates dispersed among the crowd. Instead of waiting until the grads were all out of the seating area, the crowd dispersed among the students. It was a mess. People were trapped and couldn’t find their kid for a long time. There was no security, no one to enforce the rules and total disrespect for others.
We went on to an after party which included the ex. She continued her loud obnoxious behavior through the afternoon and ended the party with a hug to my husband. This was not your “casual” hug, but a “throwing your arms around the neck, full body hug” I hate her. I rolled my eyes in spite of myself and then realized there was no way out of the house but to walk past her. I was done. I couldn’t give one more fake smile, or utter one more kind word. I walked past her, intending to completely ignore her when she reached out, touched my arm, and said “See ya later, Paula” I didn’t break my stride, I didn’t turn my head. I simply said, “yeah, bye” and walked out.
That is all for now, this is already a novel. In my next post I will give my personal thoughts on the weekend and my lessons learned.
I’m glad it’s over. The kid is happy and we’re sitting in the airport awaiting the final leg of our journey back to Hawaii.

The graduate with her Grandma, my wonderful mother-in-law.