another new orleans graduation

Last weekend, Dan graduated from Tulane for a second time- this time from grad school. We are getting to be old hands at this! And since Billy will be going there this fall for his graduate degree, we will get another family trip - hopefully everyone, as scattered around the country as they are, will be able to make it.

Ellen Degeneres spoke at the graduation. She is probably more comfortable with herself then anyone I know. The graduation ceremony was as they should be....a celebration complete with a New Orleans Jazz band, and fireworks.

We never went on any formal vacations when the kids were little. Maybe because Bruce and I didn't as kids either. More likely cause we couldn't afford it. Everyone grew up fine without the trips to Disneyland, or wherever else people seem to think their kids need to go to be well rounded. Our kids didn't even get to go to daycare, the poor things! An acquaintance of mine once commented to me (she isn't really gifted in the art of tact) "Your kids are so nice. But then kids who go without often are nicer than kids who have everything". I asked her what she thought our kids "had done without". So far, none of them have mentioned what they thought they did without - except for maybe Dan and his lack of a dart board, which I swear he never asked for - thus I got one for Bill and not him. Anyway, there's so few occasions where we can all be together anymore so I enjoy every minute of it - and hang on to the moments and try not to be a clingy mom and try to let them all be but it is damn hard sometimes to let them leave their childhood entirely. Like last year though, we had a great time. We drank a little more than we should have, and dined at posh places, but life is short.

Dan did a crawfish boil - I wasn't sure if I could eat those initially squirmy cockroach like creatures, turned bright red in death by boiling. But I did and proudly stacked their carcasses up on the side of the table like everyone else . We also went to the Abita Springs brewery and drank free beers for a longer period of time than the tour lasted.

The best thing about this trip was that we were all together with no real plans but we had fun being together. I am grateful for how well we all get along and how much fun we have and what great humans our kids have turned into, despite all that they "did without"!