Graduation was on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. It was a beautiful day - warm and sunny. My parents joined us for a celebratory luncheon at this neat little Italian Restaurant on Marietta Square (when in town, be sure to visit this part of town - very quaint, but lively historic district with tons of Southern Charm). The ceremony was held at a church "just off The Square" (as we say here - I could add, "about a 1/2 mile west of the Big Chicken" - that's for another entry). Any way, back to the business at hand: the ceremony was held at Roswell Street Baptist Church - the Churches are the only facilities with seating capacity large enough for some of our local high schools. We had the honor and privilege to watch Zach accept his diploma and enjoy the huge smile on his face while doing so.
Later that evening, we threw a party, along with 2 other families - both friends of ours who have sons that graduated with Zach. All 3 boys...I mean men...have been buddies since their freshman year and were in the Percussion section of the band together. We decided on adding a Casino Night theme and really drew in a crowd. We had 2 Roulette Tables, 2 Black-Jack Tables and 2 Texas Hold'em Tables. There was lots of food, great music and fun had by all.
Our dear friends the Kolenbergs, whom we consider family at this point, made the trip from Chapel Hill, NC. David manned the "serious, high-roller" table. It was really funny to watch them in action. My brother Matt, ever the comedian, was asking where the buffet was the entire night and wanted his room comp'ed.
We are now busy preparing for Zach departure. He is still waiting for his roommate assignments. As soon as we receive that information we will be ready to shop for the common-use items, but we are getting his bedroom and other personal use items squared away. Lindsay spent the past week taking drivers education (it is now mandatory for Georgia teen drivers to have 30 classroom hours of drivers ed and driving time with an instructor - however, she is taking the same class Zach did when he was preparing for his license). Then she was whisked off to the University of Alabama to meet the dance team for 5 days of dance camp.
I am supposed to be packing right now for our trip to Hilton Head. Those of you who know me best, know that I hate packing more than anything and will procrastinate until the last minute (like now) before I finally give in to the inevitable. Lindsay will be flying into Savannah to join us for the last few days of our family vacation. Look for some great photos from our trip in my next entry. For now, you can enjoy these pictures from Graduation weekend.
