Graduation Day

CELEBRATING CJ: On Friday, June 18, CJ (and the rest of the MPA crew) attended his graduation from South Seattle College. 

"Thanks" to COVID, it was far from a traditional ceremony. There was no pomp and circumstance - instead there was a DJ playing pop music. There was no stage to cross or hands to shake - instead there was just a space to stand and meet a few local dignitaries. There were no long-winded speeches  by a series of strangers - hooray! And there were dogs. Lots of dogs. 

Honestly, all things considered, it might be the most enjoyable graduation 'ceremony' I've ever been to. :)

In preparation, we had to iron his graduation gown. It was a tricky proposition given that it was made out of 100 percent recycled plastic. I was a little leery of melting it, and there were no ironing instructions.

So I took it low and slow. It turned out mostly OK.

Donning the gown took place in the parking lot.

CJ wore his fancy Fluevog shoes for the ceremony. His college mascot was the Otters.

Cap and gown in place, CJ was ready to go get his (fake, for now) diploma.

It took us about 10 minutes to get to the 'stage,' where the college president, , and the mayor of Seattle, Jenny Durkan, were among the dignitaries waiting.

I felt sorry for the folks on stage. They were all staring into the sun. That must have been hard for those poor people who had to do that for three hours while the graduates shuffled through in a socially distanced manner.

Posing next to a sign in the parking lot. South Seattle really needs to order some new staff parking signs.

And posing next to a sign of the times. It lives in our front yard now (the sign, not CJ).

I found this family photo on South Seattle's Facebook page. 

We were going to go to CJ's favorite food truck for a celebratory dinner, but they were missing in action on graduation night! 

Plan B: Wing Dome on the Seattle waterfront. Given it was a Friday night during graduation and tourism season, it was kind of a miracle we got a table, but we did!

Here's the college grad in the big city. 

I also took a couple of photos of CeeJ with Puget Sound behind him. Don't ask me why he didn't take his mask off and I didn't notice. Derp. Oh well, they're definitely going to be recognized as 2020 or 2021 grad photos.

Well done, CJ. Now the Otter is on his way to becoming a Husky in September!