The Castaway Hotel - 9 - 36. Chapter 36 - Many Reasons To Celebrate

The graduation season was now upon us and Brandon’s commencement came first. Unfortunately, this also meant his parents would have to fly to Pennsylvania twice – first to see him graduate with his baccalaureate and then two weeks later for the graduation party and commitment ceremony. I called the O’Hara’s to apologize for this, but they told me not to worry about it. They said I was doing what was best for the majority of people that would be attending the commitment ceremony and I didn’t have any control over the date of Brandon’s baccalaureate ceremony. I thanked them for their understanding and then helped them make their plans.

Brandon’s commencement was being held on Saturday, May 6, so his parents were flying in on Friday, so they could spend some time with him. Since Brandon was in charge of one of our SUV’s, he was able to use it to pick his parents up at the airport and drive them around. The younger boys, Jake and I were planning to leave early and drive to Pittsburgh on Saturday, so we could also attend the ceremony.

We arrived well before the ceremony, so we had plenty of time to spend with Brandon and his parents. They were quite taken with Joshie when they met him and Mrs. O’Hara’s maternal instincts immediately kicked in. From her actions, I could tell she was hoping Danny and Brandon might adopt sometime in the future, because it was quite apparent she would love to have grandchildren to dote over.

A short time later, we drove to the location where the baccalaureate ceremony was going to be held and Brandon took off to join the other graduates. After Brandon left, the rest of us went and located a row of seats. Unfortunately, a lot of other people had gotten there ahead of us, so our seats were located about a third of the way back. We did take seats on the aisle, so we’d be able to get out and take pictures when the time came.

While we were waiting for the ceremony to begin, I glanced through the program and noticed that Brandon’s name had a special notation beside it. I glanced down at the legend to see what the symbol meant and quickly discovered Brandon was graduating Summa Cum Laude, which is Latin for ‘with highest honors/praise.’ I knew he had been doing very well in his course work, in fact all three of this year’s graduates had been extremely successful in their studies, but I guess I didn’t realize exactly how well he had been doing.

I was going to point this out to his parents, but I overheard them commenting to each other and realized they had noticed this fact as well. I don’t think Brandon had mentioned it to them beforehand, but now they were beaming with pride over this honor, as they should be. I knew we’d have to make a big deal out of this later, so I also pointed this fact out to the other boys and explained what it meant. I was also hoping it might inspire them during their academic pursuits as well.

The ceremony was a rather long and drawn out affair, and Mr. O’Hara and Jake went up and took several shots of Brandon as he was receiving his degree. Jake had offered to do this for me, since I was taking care of Joshie. Jake didn’t mind holding Joshie for short periods of time, but he didn’t care to be left alone to handle all of Joshie’s needs, so this worked out well.

When the ceremony concluded, we found Brandon and congratulated him. We then took many, many pictures of him with his parents, then a few of him with Jake and me, and finally a few more with him and the other boys. Brandon even held Joshie in these last shots.

Once the picture taking session ended, Brandon explained that his final Grade Point Average (GPA) was 3.88 and he now had his B.S. (Bachelor of Science) in Biological Sciences. He has also been accepted into University of Pittsburgh’s School of Dental Medicine, beginning in the fall, which will take him another three to four years to complete.

We then went out to lunch with Brandon and his parents, so we could spend a little more time with them, before we took the family back home. Brandon was staying in Pittsburgh, so he could spend more time with his parents, but it was also because he had to drive some of the others back home. Those boys still had another week of school and Brandon was going to stay there, so he could bring them back with him. I told him several times how much I appreciated him doing this for me, but he assured me it was no problem.

It was a nice, yet exhausting, day and we had a great time being with the O’Haras again. They were spending the rest of the weekend with Brandon, before they returned home, so we left shortly after our meal with them and their son. I think the other boys were all glad they came with us, but were now equally as happy it was over.

The following weekend we had to drive to Penn State for Danny’s commencement, which was being held on Saturday, May 13. This time, I didn’t have to take Joshie with me and was able to leave him with Dion, who had returned home the night before. This drive was similar to the last one, except we were heading north, not west. We also didn’t have to deal with big city traffic, although there certainly was a considerable amount of traffic, once we got near the campus.

We met Danny at his dorm and he rode with us to where the ceremony was being held. He then took off to join the rest of his class and we went to find seats. While we were waiting I looked at the program and noted Danny was also graduating Summa Cum Laude. What is it with these boys not telling us about this honor or making a big deal of it before we got to the ceremony?

It turned out to be another typical baccalaureate ceremony, although it didn’t seem to last quite as long as Brandon’s graduation had. I snapped several pictures of Danny as he received his degree and then we took even more pictures after the ceremony ended. We took several pictures of Danny in his cap and gown, some more with Jake and me and others with Danny and his brothers. When the photo op ended, I asked Danny about graduating with honors and why he hadn’t told us.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” he answered. “I actually had to do that well in order to get into medical school.”

“I’m sure they would have accepted a Magna Cum Laude too,” I informed him. Magna Cum Laude means ‘with great honors or praise’ and is the level below Summa Cum Laude.

“Possibly, but I didn’t want to take that chance,” Danny responded.

“I am curious about something,” I continued. “What was your final GPA?”

“It was 3.92,” Danny announced, in a matter-of-fact way. However, I did notice a slight grin spreading across his face.

“Danny, that’s outstanding,” I responded. “I mean you can’t do much better than that out of a 4.0 system.” Danny just shrugged it off and mentioned it was time to be moving on.

Danny now had his B.S. in Premedical Medicine, or what most people call Pre-Med. He will be attending the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in the fall, now that he and Brandon had decided they wanted to be together during the conclusion of their studies. For some reason, the boys no longer felt the other would distract him from his studies. I guess with those GPA’s, their study habits were pretty well ingrained.

After the ceremony, we took Danny out to eat and chat a bit. I kept telling him how impressed I was with his accomplishment and he thanked me, but played it down. He only said that he knew if he was going to get into a top flight Medical School, he’d have to have as close to a 4.0 as possible and I understood exactly what he was telling me. However, I explained that knowing what you needed and actually doing it are two different things, so he should be very proud of what he’d achieved.

Once we finished our meal, we dropped Danny off at his dorm. He had another of our SUV’s and would be driving some of the other college men back, so we left him there and returned alone.

Kevin’s commencement came next, but it was being held on Thursday, May 18. I thought having it in the middle of the week was a bit odd, but it worked out so we could attend all three graduations. This time we headed east, to Philadelphia and Temple’s ceremony.

As we had with the others, we met Kevin beforehand, but he was living in an apartment off campus, not a dorm room. I had given Kevin and Vinnie permission to do this, and then Trey joined them when he went there too. So now, we collected the three boys, so we could head to the ceremony. Dion was happy to see Trey again, and Trey was thrilled to see both Dion and Joshie. It was very cute to watch them as they reunited.

We took Kevin out to eat before the ceremony, since we didn’t know for certain how late the graduation would run. We drove over to the dorms before we ate, so I could invite Jeff to go with us too, but he had already left with his mother. I was sorry we’d missed him, because Jeff had been Kevin’s roommate when he first came to Temple. He was also the young man Kevin had switched scholarships with at the awards banquet, back when they were seniors in high school.

After having a lovely meal, during which I had a chance to speak with Kevin, I discovered he was also graduating with honors. He was graduating Summa Cum Laude too, with a 3.87 GPA. Of course that earned him a little ribbing too, since his GPA was the lowest of the three who had graduated with honors this year. Brandon had beaten him by .01 of a point, while Danny slaughtered him by .05 of a point.

We then took Kevin and dropped him off with the other graduates, before we went to locate seats. We took up a bit more space this time, since more boys were home and eager to come with us. In fact, we had used two vehicles to make this trip.

Once we got our programs, I quickly scanned it to find Kevin’s name. There it was with its designation of Summa Cum Laude. Damn! Did I do something right or was there something in the water while they were growing up. Anyways, here was another son receiving accolades and I was very proud of him as well, as I advised him earlier, when he let us know this was going to happen.

I also noticed Jeff’s name and discovered he was graduating Magna Cum Laude, which wasn’t too shabby either. Both boys were receiving their B.S. in Biochemistry, a curriculum that is most likely as difficult as it sounds. They would both be coming back in the fall to attend Temple’s School of Pharmacy, which would take them another three to four years to complete. It was a difficult road to hoe, but they were both determined to do this.

After discovering that all three graduates had been near the top of their respective classes, and after hearing them joke about it over dinner, I think it had a great impact on the others. I believe some of the younger boys were now beginning to feel they would have to graduate with honors too, just to fit in. I hope it doesn’t put too much pressure on them, but some incentives can be good.

This ceremony seemed to go quicker than the other two, but maybe that had something to do with being held on a Thursday. I took some snapshots of Kevin’s receiving his degree and we took a whole bunch more afterward. When we finished, Kevin followed us back in the 4Runner, with Vinnie riding with him. They had already loaded their things in the trailer attached behind it and were ready to return home as well. Trey, however, rode with us, so he could be with Dion and Joshie.

We didn’t have long to recuperate though, before the last of the graduation ceremonies was upon us. We spent Friday setting up the tents and filling them with the tables and chairs I was able to borrow. Before we finished this task, Brandon’s parents arrived, and a short time later, Nick’s parents also showed up. It was only late afternoon, so we spent part of the evening chatting with them and then we went out to eat. After we returned to the house, the rest of us excused ourselves and left Nick, Shannon, Jake, Danny and Brandon alone with Nick and Brandon’s parents. It gave the O’Haras an opportunity to spend some time alone with Brandon and Danny and gave the Lawrences and Jake some time with Nick and Shannon. After all, this weekend they each would be gaining a son-in-law.

Besides allowing them some time alone, I had my own family to contend with. My biological children and grandchildren began arriving during the early evening hours and I was thrilled to see them all again. The only ones that weren’t going to be here were Elizabeth and Tim, and that was only because Elizabeth was due to give birth any day now. Seeing that was the situation, we happily excused them – this time.

I did stay up quite late playing with my grandchildren and then talking to my children. I can’t believe how drastically their attitudes have changed over the past year, since most of them had made the journey from not accepting Jake and I as a couple, to openly welcoming their brothers’ commitments to their partners. Let’s just say, I was truly amazed, impressed and very pleased.

They also commented how very proud they were of Danny, Brandon and Kevin, once they heard their GPA’s and discovered each had graduated Summa Cum Laude. All of them had gone to college as well, but the best any of them had done was graduating Cum Laude, which is the lowest of the three honors classifications. Needless to say, they felt if this trio was bright enough to do that well in college, then they most likely knew what they were doing by going through with this commitment ceremony.

The next day, Saturday, May 20, the high school boys, Sammy and Little Ricky, graduated. Playfully, both boys assured me they wouldn’t be graduating with honors, but then quickly reminded me they had already been accepted into college. I felt that was good enough and didn’t say anything more.

It seemed strange to me that I was watching this graduation ceremony while sitting amongst the other families. Not only wasn’t I the Superintendent any longer, but I wasn’t even a school district employee, and that had never happened to me before. At least when my other children graduated, I was either a teacher or the middle school principal, but this year I was merely a parent. It felt really strange. Anyway, it was an afternoon ceremony and I was able to get some fairly decent shots as both boys accepted their diplomas. They each looked relieved that their long trek through the public school system was finally over, as their older brothers had when they graduated from the local school district.

Now that these two had gradated, it only left Andrew and Jesse in the local school district, since Joshie still had a few years to go until he would be enrolled. Andrew would be in eleventh grade and a junior in the fall, while Jesse would be starting seventh grade. Dang! I just realized Jesse would be a junior in high school when Joshie was beginning his education experience and entering Kindergarten.

Once the ceremony ended, we took a bunch of pictures of the graduates with Jake and me, and then more of them with different combinations of their brothers. Once we finished doing that, we left the Grand Am with them, so they could spend time saying their good-byes. The rest of us went home, so we could finish getting ready for the graduation party.

Shortly after we arrived home, the caterer showed up and began setting up his things in the large tent we had put up the day before. While I was making certain everything was where I wanted it, Jake went inside and began bringing out the two cakes, while Danny and Brandon offered to run out and pick up the keg I had reserved. I thanked them for doing this and the rest of us finished setting up, as the guests began to arrive.

The party got going very quickly and before long everyone was having a good time, or at least they seemed to be. Once things were going well, we called all the graduates over to cut the cakes. There were two, one for the high school boys that read, ‘Congratulations Grads of ’06,’ and another for the college grads. Their cake read, ‘Our hats are off to the Summa Cum Laude Trio,’ and there were designs of a dozen mortarboards being thrown into the air.

I think both sets of grads appreciated their cakes and the party continued until after 3:00 the next morning. That wouldn’t have been so bad, but we had church and the commitment ceremony a few hours later. We took what had to be taken indoors and left the rest. We’d get it after we got home from church, when we came back to make sure everything was ready for after the ceremony at the church.

When the alarm went off, it seemed as if I hadn’t gotten much sleep at all, and actually none of us had. I was contemplating skipping church this one week, but how could we do that, when the ceremony was going to be held there later? It was quite a dilemma.

Anyways, I got everyone up and ready to go, and somehow we all managed to drag our bodies there. Surprisingly, I didn’t even catch anyone falling asleep during the service. When it ended, our pastor told us he’d see us again at 3:00 and confirmed that he was looking forward to presiding over the ceremony. I just hoped we all managed to stay awake long enough to go through with it.

After stopping for a very harried brunch, we rushed home to clean up from the graduation party we held the day before. The boys were all very good about helping to do this and before long we had the place looking as it had prior to the start of that party.

The caterer would be showing up again to set up, except this time the food served would be more like what you would find at a wedding reception. This included two cakes, which we would cut at the end of the festivities. There was one for each pair of couples and was meant to wish all of them a sweet start to their lives together.

Once we had taken care of all of this, we went into the house to clean up again, since we had worked up a sweat cleaning up. The boys then put on their suits and we were ready to go. Half would be riding down with Jake and going into one room to wait, while the other half would be riding with me and going into another room until they were called.

After Jake and I took the boys to their respective rooms, we located the boutonnieres that had been delivered for this occasion. Carefully, we pinned a red rose, backed with baby’s breath, on the suit jacket lapel of each participant and then waited for the ceremony to begin.