A Ghostly Graduation

This weekend Dave was able to wear the graduation gear, honor tassels and all, and get his Bachelors degree in Business Administration from Upper Iowa University. There were ten people that went up with Dave to Strawberry Point on Friday and were in his cheering section. It was a fun but still creepy weekend since we stayed at the Franklin Hotel. If you haven't heard of it, I am not surprised. It is in a small town Strawberry Point and only has 9 rooms they rent out. It has a bar and a restaurant inside and seems to be the local hangout and dining for the residents. What makes it creepy? It is apparently haunted by a lady named Lily. She supposedly worked at the hotel and was a "lady of the night." They named her Lily because when she is around you can smell Lily of the Valley. And even if there wasn't a ghost you would believe there was with the dim hallways, creaky floors, and a very old building. Dan and Anne were late arriving because she had some work things to do and when Dan checked in they told him he was staying in the most popular room. I was thinking maybe it was because there sink would be in the bathroom instead of in the main room (like ours) but I was wrong. It was because they stayed in the haunted room number seven. They said she wanders the whole hotel but she tends to make her presence more known in room 7. Jesse was jealous since he is a ghost chaser of sorts. (They took a trip to a haunted tuberculosis hospital and stayed from midnight to 6am with flashlights only) We ate dinner at the restaurant and played some foosball in the pub. When Jaxson began to wear out we put him to bed and right outside of our room was a large hallways with chairs and tables set up so we all hung out there until were all tired enough that we didn't think Lily would bother us. I of course being completely sober was aware of squeaks and bumps in the night but slept fairly well.

We woke up early and gathered all of our stuff. Dave was out the door earlier than we were to get to the college and line up for the commencement. Some were able to get up early enough to grab a bite to eat at the restaurant (Elaine and Joe) and everyone else was a little slower. I did slam a yogurt and Jaxson had some yogurt and raisins before we were off. Strawberry point was about 30 minutes from Layette where UIU is. We found a parking spot fairly quickly and walked as fast as we could since it was about 40 degrees outside. Brr… isn't this May?? Anyway, we got the first row on the bleachers which worked out great because Jaxson could easily walk from Aunt Carol, to mom, to grandma, and back. When Dave walked in he was the last seat on the row and only about five rows down from where we were sitting. Jaxson could see him and even go up to him and say hi. It was a nice ceremony; the key note speaker had a list of certifications and degrees a marathon long but had a really good speech. Then they were ready to start calling the names. When the lady who was reading names belted out the first one everyone around gasped and chuckled. She was so loud and did it with such enthusiasm it shocked everyone. It sounded as if she was announcing for the Miss America show or something. And it wasn't only the first name, but EVERY name, all 500+ of them. I started to get used to it but it was funny from the first name to the last. I even got a video of it, although it was funnier in person. Dave walked across, got his degree, shook hands with all the important people on stage, and off to his seat he went. Over in a second but worth it. Then we were off to lunch in Independence. We went to an unimpressive Mexican/steak house with a specialty of Broasted Chicken (I guess we should have seen the 'unimpressive' coming with that combination). Then on to our long drive home. Today it was back to school work since he will actually not be done with classes until August. So close and we can't wait. The graduation made the end seem real.

As a side note, I wanted to mention the honors that Dave got. There are three levels of honors, cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa cumlaude (3.8-4.0) You have to put in 60+ hours of classes at UIU to be able to get the upper honors, magna or summa. Dave was at 57 hours after all his classes through August and therefore was not eligible to get the upper honors even though his grades would give him the top honor of Summa Cum Laude. He has nearly a 3.9 GPA and got a 4.0 last semester. He was introduced as having cum laude. I would also like to add that of all the classes I took to get my bachelors from Drake I have never had a class that had more work than the classes he takes on the online program at UIU. So even though he is taking classes online, it is probably harder than going in person to Drake, or any other state university. Seriously.

This is the whole group in Anne and Dan's haunted room number 7. I wonder if Lily was there too??

Our hallway hangout. Our room, Elaine's, and Michelle's were all right there in a row. It worked great!

Creepy? Yes!