graduation

it's official.

school's out forever.

this last month mike graduated.

now he officially has his jd/mba,

and it is time to move on.

into a world where instead of borrowing ridiculous amounts of money,

we get to pay ridiculous amounts of money back.

regardless, we are still thrilled.

mba graduation:

law graduation:

it has been a long four years.

there were many times mike would leave before the sun came up and get home long after it had gone down.

there was the sudden career change halfway through when we decided that a dual degree was the right path for us.

there was that long summer where mike was living away from home five out of seven days a week. i'm still not sure how we survived the last month of that. the one where mike was gone all the time, i had both kids on my own, and i was newly pregnant.

there were many group projects and job presentations.

there were plenty of evenings spent together combing over internship openings and sending in job applications.

there were times i wasn't quite sure we'd make it through in one piece.

but it was a fun four years, too.

there were visits to the cider mill with the j. reuben clark law society. back when all we had was one little baby and getting out of the house was simple.

there were tailgates before every home game.

there were friendships we both made that will last a long time after we all go our separate ways.

when we first arrived in lansing, i remember having a conversation with mike about how different things would be when we left.

the idea that tennyson would be three, and we could possibly have another kid by then made our time in lansing seem like it would go on forever.

but the time flew by too fast.

and here we are with a four year old and two more kids.

these four years have set our family on a path that we'll be following for the rest of our lives.

and it's bittersweet (emphasis on the sweet) to see it all come to an end.