Although I finished my bachelor’s degree and was awarded my testamur (certificate) in December, I had my actual graduation ceremony today out at the Mt. Helen Campus of Federation University. Present with me were some unlucky fellow graduates who finished theirs at the end of 2019, forced to wait for their physical ceremony for a year and a half due to COVID-19.
I had the piece of paper already framed, got some photos taken a month or so ago with Danielle and my kids (below) and the ceremony itself was just that: ceremonial. I almost didn’t attend: my back was giving me trouble and I had to arrange with a very accommodating and kind graduation ceremony staff to sit at the side of the theatre so I could stand at intervals and not distract/detract from the proceedings. I’m so very glad I participated however: it was the perfect capstone to my first university journey.
It was so lovely to have my mother and stepfather there to see it. When the Vice-Chancellor spoke of how some in the graduating cohort may be the first in their families to complete university, I swelled with pride: I am the first descendant in both my mother’s and my father’s lineage to earn a degree. I looked over to my mother and saw her crying and looking at me with a lot of pride, and it made me very proud myself to have achieved this not only for myself, but for my family. She told me later she never thought she’d see one of her children graduate university: we are all now in our mid-to-late 30s. She teared up again and it was just awesome. Yeah it’s a bit naïf to write a post to publicly declare my mummy is proud of me, but it really was a nice highlight and, I felt, worth sharing.
I had a very long and hard road to graduation. It was worth it just to see my mother beaming like that.
