The boy….

It’s official, I’m married to a Clemson Graduate!

The Boy has made me proud more times than I can count but this one has definitely topped most of them off!

I remember sitting in El Sombrero the day he got the phone call from his mom saying there was a “BIG Clemson envelope” at home …. so he asked her to open it and….. YUP- he was accepted!!

We had just gotten our food and Alex was so happy that he got cold chills (weird i know) so we had to leave the restaurant without even eating to go spread the news and do some research- after all we had never been to Clemson before and we had to plan a trip/a move!

First Clemson trip: 2007

So after a series of exciting events- getting engaged, my college graduation, an all girls trip to the beach, our wonderful going away party… ..

…And a few hurdles- Alex finally getting a diagnosis of Graves disease and having to retake an entire semester of “I’s” due to his thyroid making him sleep at least 18 hours a day… we packed up and said our good byes to make our first move away from –home-Statesboro, GA to Clemson, SC!!

We were so excited, it was our first time being on our own and we thought after moving there it would be a breeze to finish his degree, but it was only the beginning of our journey..…

He took a full load the first summer and spent the entire following year we lived there taking 21 straight engineering classes both Fall and Spring semester in order to speed things up from his set back of having classes transferred.

The next summer, right after our wedding, we found out I had been accepted to Kennesaw for their MSW program and about a week later he found a great internship opportunity in Atlanta as well at a company called Hughes Telematics…. but he wasn’t finished at Clemson.

So we packed up anyway and The Boy spent another semester taking a full load while commuting back and forth from Clemson, SC to Roswell, GA!

The next few semesters The Boy kept his job at Hughes, where they of course loved him and he continued to work at least 50 hours a week to make ends meet, seeing as I was in school full time, while still driving back and forth to take the few classes he had left in order to graduate!

Finally after all of this, plus the endless nights staying up to study and countless mornings of getting up before 6am to make the 2 hour drive to Clemson for a 16 hour day, which usually ended with a phone call saying “Jen, I’m pulling over to the side of the road for a power nap, I will call ya when I start driving again.”

Needless to say, The Boy has been through it and “yes” it did slow things down- having two people with two distinct goals for life, fall in love and operate as one person but having to make compromises in order for everyone to get what they need- especially over the past 3 years.

But on Thursday, it was all behind us and we finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel……….

The Boy did it!

We were all there and PROUD as the smartest boy we all know finally had a chance to show it off as he walked across the stage!!!

Julian even came!!

She was such a good girl sitting through the ceremony and I believe I started a never ending game of “lets find the tigert paw prints” which I may never see the end of!!!

Just look at the picture… they’re everywhere!!

  Tara and Dad were SUPER excited… but lets be honest, we were all really just there for support and to make sure it was official, he got the diploma!!

So THANK YOU to black berry and Droid for providing entertainment during the 3 hour ceremony!!

Billy and Angela came alllllllllllll the way from Philadelphia to see Lou walk across that stage!

…..Andy was making sure his name was really in the program!

  No worries in the end, I can sit through a 3 hour ceremony everyday if it means “this”!   

MY GRADUATE!!!! 

(and picture time)

His mama’s and the rest of the family!           

This one is my favorite, she loves Uncle alex!!

Then it was party time- round one!!

At one of our old favorites, Mellow Mushroom!

   I think lunch was when reality finally set in for Lou, every time I looked at him he was glowing!!

I’m pretty sure nothing was going to wipe the smile off that face… or either of our faces honestly!!

Then it was time to head back to Atlanta for party #2!   Mom and Dad have been SOO EXCITED waiting for this day…..

They even made their own Clemson paw print cookies from scratch- literally they made their own stencil, icing- everything!

So you can imagine Julian’s reaction after we spent the entire graduation ceremony looking for Paw prints only to come home and find MORE!!

It didn’t take long for Lee to fall in love with Julian and he quickly partook in our “find the paw print” game, he even started drawing them for her after she found all the ones in the house!  

  I wish I had taken more pictures at the party but I was busy being a good hostess*I did snap this one with most of Lou’s boys (somehow they got into going into the old cross country and prom pictures?) but I didn’t get any of Jeff and I really wanted to because we haven’t seen him in forever and it was so nice of him to make it to the party after just moving here (which we are very excited about!)!  

Laura also managed to dodge my snaps but she was so sweet to beat all of us to the house to warm up the chili (which was a HUGE hit- thanks mom!) and set out all the other goodies!!

She even stayed with us until the party ended and everyone left to capture this moment as well….

..… so exciting to finally hang them up next to each other (and yes it had to be done THAT night)!!!

We are just a tad bit excited, in case ya can’t tell and so happy that it’s finally official!! Sorry to those of you who stuck with this blog, I know at times it sounded like a vent session but it’s been a long road for us with lots of surprises and Lou has been a trooper through all of it!!

He starts his new job January 1st (at the same company just different department- hardware) and he’s pretty excited about that as well, but there’s a lot to fun to be had before the New Year……

Congrats Lou!!!

I love you!