Katie's graduation day went swimmingly!  After two straight weeks of cold temps and non stop rain, the sun came out and it got up into the 70s by the time we arrived at Northrup Auditorium at 10:00 a.m. for commencement.  Jay and I picked up Katie's boy friend, Adam, who came in on the Greyhound from Missoula to attend the big day.

At the U, we found Katie,  with my Mom and Dad, immediately.  The law school grads were lined up out in front of the auditorium, which is at the top of the mall.  It was a spectacular sight; the mall at the University of Minnesota looks like a college campus designed by Disney or Speilburg; it's beautiful, perfect and just sings "Higher Learnin' Goin' on!"

I thought we'd have a tough time finding one little 5'1" girl in that crowd, but there she was, not twenty feet from us. We took some pictures in the sunshine then went inside to find seats.

Inside, we were joined by two Lori and Jesse, two of Katie's oldest friends.  The ceremony was very nice, most of the speakers were funny and kept things short.  Senator Amy Klobuchar gave the commencement address and she was funny and gave a good speech.  My impression of her; I could totally hang out with her but I'd never vote for her.  I actually can say that about a lot of my friends.

Except I don't actually hang out with them, either.

We had a few hours between the graduation and the party, so we used it wisely; Jay got ice and I made more bars.

Adam asked us how many people we were expecting.

"The usual," I told him.  "Anywhere from 30 to 100.  Most of them will get food."

I think that's the trick to an open house;  don't sweat it.

We've been doing this a lot in the last decade.  Ever since Ty graduated from high school, it seems like we have to throw one or two of these every summer.  We've pared it down to the elements, which are simply; no food that needs a fork and no pop for the little kids.  Don't sweat the weather, there's nothing you can do about it.

Our menu is always the same; brats with the fixins, chips and at least four different kinds of bars for dessert.  I make a huge jug of Kool aid and the fridge garage is full of beer.  As we discovered years and years ago, a fun party depends entirely on inviting fun people and we've got that covered.

The turn out was grand!  Dick and Jan came from Rochester, Matt, Janelle and the twins were in town from Indianapolis and Katelyn flew in from Chicago to surprise Katie.  Even Joe was home from his latest stint with the Super Secret Boy Band.  The parents of Katie's room mate, Caylie came and it was really nice to see them.  I haven't since the girls all graduated from high school seven years ago and I had never really had a chance to talk to Caylie's Mom, April, even though I knew she and I had a lot of common interests; she's also an artist.

I think we had around 60 people show up.  We served over 70 brats and polished off almost all of 6 pans of bars.  We ran out of ketchup early because it hadn't occurred to me that anyone would want ketchup on a brat, even though I know at least two people who were coming who do just that.  I was going to run up to the store to get some more, but Jay said "We don't cater to perverse tastes."  so I didn't. 

Sorry, Jan.

The party began around 3:30 and people didn't start leaving till 7 or so.  By 8, it was the usual suspects, sitting around the chimney on the deck and catching up.  Joe had some interesting stories to tell about the dark side of the planet.  I learned what a terabyte is. Sort of.  The party was over around 10.

Sunday,  Jay and I drove to Rochester for a wedding reception at the Somerby country club.  Our friend Dick was having a party for his daughter, Liz, who married Sam in San Francisco last autumn.  Party for friends and family here.  Again, the whether was perfect, the setting was gorgeous, the food delicious and the company superb.

A fabulous time was had by all and I need a vacation from all the parties.

This week I need to get a draft of Ty's wedding invitation drawn up.

All's good in my world.

 

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