impending graduation

We had to order cap and gown this week. It triggered some fear, I gotta tell you. In undergrad I made a tragic error. When my Arabic professor asked me what grade I "deserved" I made the mistake of telling him the truth. I like languages, they come easily, I could have done more = B+. Low and behold, even though I killed the exam, the man gave me a B+ and i missed cum laude by the GPA distance between my honesty and an A-. I kicked myself for weeks. My early adventures in university level academia had been less than stellar--my class attendence was impeded by the Illinois winters. So, the fact that I fought my way back to nearly cum laude kinda broke my heart. In irritation, I blew off graduation and went to New Zealand to hang out with my best friend.

Now, 8 years later, another graduation is on the horizon. This one I will attend. I've earned it. Besides, who can resist getting to wear this get up:

The Doctoral regalia consists of the following pieces:

1. Cap/Tassel: puffy and round as opposed to the stiff square ones worn in undergrad.
2. Gown: usually black (ours are) with three velvet stripes on the sleeves and stripes down the front. 
3. Hood: the circular fabric that hangs from my neck down my back. Honestly, it doesn't look much like a hood. It is ceremonially placed on as a sign of graduation. In my case, because Adam graduated from the same law school--he will come on stage to put mine on with a professor, seriously making my graduation a family affair. 

Luckily, my graduating class is only about 40-50 people :) and I get to invite everyone I want. Thus, my hope for a very large, very loud, cow bell plus cheering section the day before the wedding. Here's to being 5 weeks shy of done with university forever.