He makes a mortar board look good

It's the end of an era. Timothy officially graduated from law school this past weekend. It's been a loooong three years, and as much as I loved having the house to myself for days at a time and single-parenting an active and energetic rugrat during finals, as much as I've loved to feign interest when Timothy speaks of things like "writs of certiorari" or "exculpatory evidence", as much as I've loved having to console my poor, pitiful husband when he's pouty and depressed about getting an A-minus on an exam instead of that A that he surely deserved, I am ecstatic that this phase of our lives is finally coming to an end, and that we are almost ready to start life in the "real world".

I'm pretty sure that most of the people who visit this blog are fully aware of how brilliant and charming my husband is, but I'd like to take a minute to offer some specific examples.

He graduated from law school with highest honors, summa cum laude, meaning he has maintained a 3.75 grade point average - not an easy task, as you can imagine. He's had an article published in the Arkansas Law Review, which will be referenced by lawyers countrywide for many years to come, and was appointed to the editorial board of the Law Review, serving as an Associate Editor. He earned a trip to New York City for winning the school's moot court competition and the opportunity to compete against stellar law students from across the country. And those are just the things I can remember off the top of my head.

Sometimes success like this can foster jealousy and create animosity from other students - or "player-haters" as I like to call them - that wish they were half as awesome as he is. But somehow, Timothy has managed to remain humble and thus well-liked by his peers, as evidenced by the fact that he was elected by his class to be the student speaker at the Commencement Ceremony. Not that it should have been a surprise, but I am still kind of blown away by that honor. I mean, that's essentially like being voted "most popular" or "most likely to have interesting things to say". Like, omigosh, I feel like I'm married to the Captain of the Football Team. Mmmm, maybe more like the President of the Chess Club. Either way, I am super proud of his accomplishments and am happy to be the First Lady of the guy who "won law school".

In preparation for Saturday's events, the Boettchers and the Evanses arrived Friday evening and convened at our house for a dee-lish Cajun dinner, featuring a vat of homemade jambalaya that my dad made from scratch in Peoria and transported all the way to Fayetteville. It was a hit. Sooo good. And it was fun to have both families together again, for the first time since Alex was born.

Speaking of Alex, he loooved being able to spend time with his G-pa's and Ma's and Aunties and cousins...Here he is with his Grandpa and Papa. (Btw, I think he looks like a beaver in the first picture. A really cute beaver. With good hair.)

Commencement was on Saturday afternoon, so we left A at our house with the Primms while the rest of the family headed to Town Center in Fayetteville. The house was packed and I was neeeeervous about Timothy's speech, surely much more so than he was. But of course, he exceeded expectations and delivered an incredible speech that was poignant and relevant, with just enough humor to keep (most of) the audience awake.

As if getting to speak in front of hundreds of people wasn't cool enough, Timothy also got to stay on stage for the entire ceremony as the only student member of the "Platform Party", aka the VIP section. The announcer got confused when he wasn't standing with the "normal" students, aka the "less important" ones, so she almost skipped his name. Talk about irony - imagine if the class speaker didn't get to graduate. Fortunately, she caught on when Timothy started to walk towards her from the stage, so he did get his diploma after all. Phew, crisis averted.

It's official!

We had a small get-together at our house after the ceremony, with Penguin Ed's BBQ, IBC root beer, and cake from Rick's Bakery.

HUBBA-HUBBA.

A really enjoyed Ed's chicken and ain't afraid to show it. This picture should be entitled, "Alex in a nutshell".

Timothy opened some of his hard-earned graduation gifts, one of which was a new Martin HD...one...something...niner...acoustic guitar from his Momma and Daddy. Alex has taken a liking - and a licking - to Timothy's Ovation, so a pretty, new gi-tar was much needed and appreciated.

Of course, Alex got a preemptive lecture about how this pretty, new guitar was off-limits, but that the Ovation has officially been passed down to him, to do with as he pleases.

We had a great turnout, and everyone seemed to have fun. It was hard not to think about how much I'm gonna miss these people when we move.

As usual, Alex was a trooper and loved to have so many people around.

Someday he will understand what his daddy has accomplished and will be just as proud as me and Murph are!

P.S. If these aren't enough pictures to make you feel like you were actually there, I've uploaded about ten zillion more on Flickr. Check 'em out!