David's Graduation

Well, things are finally starting to settle down a bit here and while I wait for David to get back from buying the girls new bicycles (long story - tell ya later...) I thought I'd sit down and at least pound out a bit about David's graduation from Southern College of Optometry.

Let me just begin by saying how long a road this has been. One filled with many hills and potholes, as well as a few great reststops and some fabulous people along the way. I am SO proud of my amazing husband and the hard work and (seemingly) endless time he has devoted to this degree. Throughout the entire 8 years he has been in school, he has continually been a loving, involved father, a spectacular and attentive husband, and a pretty darn good student as well! Believe it or not, I did not know until I looked at my program AT GRADUATION that he was graduating Cum Laude. WOW! I didn't even graduate from HIGH SCHOOL with honors, let alone GO to college and here he is with an insane wife and FOUR young children recieving his doctorate CUM LAUDE!!! Way to go, David!

The night before graduation was an awards banquet that we attended. David's parents came out to Memphis for David's graduation and were able to go with us to the banquet. There was assigned seating which would normally put me off a bit, but we were extra lucky and our dinner companions were our close friends Lee and Ruth Robertson and their parents! That worked out great! During the presentation of the awards, we were all pleasantly surprised when David was recognized as a recipient of the "Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities" award. That was pretty exciting - although it would have been even better if that was one of the awards that came with a $1000 prize! :) Anyway, it was a fun night (they even had babysitters for the girls!) and we had a good time and a nice dinner.

The next day was graduation. We moved out of our house almost a week before this and were staying with our friends, the Gibbons. David was finishing packing the van because we were leaving Memphis immediately after graduation and while doing so noticed some sort of fluid leaking from the bottom of the van. LOVELY! We had JUST taken it in 2 weeks prior to have the entire thing checked over to avoid just such a problem. We spent $800 on 4 new tires, oil, filter, air conditioning charge, alignment, and a bunch of other stuff. So, now here we are just hours before graduation and driving across the country and our van is leaking. David scrambled to get the van back in where we had just taken it and to secure another ride for us all to the graduation ceremony. We borrowed our friends, the Schauerhamer's, van (thanks so much - you are AWESOME!) and made it just in time!

The graduation ceremony was fabulous, the guest speaker was a very accomplished actor, singer, athlete who had spent his entire life blind. Very inspiring. Of course, the actual reading of the names took forever, but eventually they announced "Dr. David Burke Whitemarsh"! I cried and smiled so hard my cheeks hurt! SO SO SO proud of him! He received his blank piece of rolled up paper and that was that! We took lots of pictures outside afterward and just basked in the glory of the knowledge that he was done - and that we were just beginning...

That's as far as I'm going to go tonight. I'll attach some pix for you of graduation day. I hope everyone is doing great and look forward to hearing from you soon! Hugs to everyone, Ruth

David with 1 after the ceremony.

Dr. and Mrs. David B. Whitemarsh!

David with 2. She said she wouldn't smile because she didn't want to move. She wanted to "go live with Mrs. Maynard" (her kindergarten teacher) Thanks Candace!!! ;)

David and 3. Now that's more like it!

David with 4. Oh my gosh, I think this picture is so stinkin' cute!