Congratulations Weekend

This weekend we went to Louisville for my sister's graduation. I'd never been to Louisville (for the curious: it's pronounced Lou'-uh-vul). It's a lovely city and not too dissimilar from St. Louis. It's an old, Catholic river town. The city itself is over 500,000 and the metro area is over a million people. Still, despite the huge river bridges, dramatic downtown skyline, and lovely neighborhoods, it feels small and manageable. Probably this is because we were there a week after the Derby.

Now that my youngest sister has 2 Masters degrees, I'm officially the least educated member of my family (with my B.A.). This is humorous because I was the "brainy" one and the one who went to the highest ranked university. It's a surprise to me that I'm not jealous of them; I'm proud of my hyper-achieving kin. I might go back to school someday. I'm not a train-for-a-career type, so I think I'll probably study more liberal arts - someday. Right now, I'm happy. I am jealous of the robes and hoods though. I have a goal of earning my own one day and starting a tradition of an annual family academic dinner where robes and stoles are required.

Anyway, it was a wonderful family weekend and a great graduation, despite being in a rather generic convention center. Ellie loved the ceremony. For the first half, she clapped enthusiastically with the crowd for every award recipient and graduate. Eventually she got tired. Her head would slump against her daddy's chest until the next award was presented, then she'd pop up and clap before falling asleep again. Then she napped heartily though the boring bits. At the end she woke for more clapping and some quiet time playing on the floor. Perfect child.

The speaker was excellent, not least because his address was under 10 minutes long. He opened with a joke:

Q: What's the difference between God and a Social Worker?
A: God doesn't try to be a Social Worker.

then he talked about how far from the truth he finds that characterization of social workers to be, seguing into a discussion of the hubris of claiming to know the mind of God and decrying religious fundamentalism. This was especially significant because Louisville was the site of the recent Justice Sunday event. I don't think anyone in the room missed the connection.

So. We're home and it was a lovely weekend. I hope that yours was too!