Presenting Dr. Bennett!!!! YEAH!!!

It's official!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dave is one of the newest Doctors of Chiropractic. I don't think it's really hit him yet. It was an awesome graduation ceremony at Chabot College in Hayward. We had the whole family there, both sides, and produced a roaring cheering section for Dave. What a fantastic end to the long road of graduate school. It felt so good to finally see (and feel) the stress melt away while Dave celebrated on the stage.

I had this pic up on the screen and Dave says, "Whoa, that's a lot of grey." Yeah, all that stress, long hours, and test taking has taken a tole on his hair. He has greyed a lot in the past 4 years. I told him it will only help him in practice. He looks very distinguished and people will take him as seriously as they should. He's a darn good chiropractor. "Dr. Feel Good" as some of his patients say.

I'm just thrilled that Phase II is upon us. Phase II being finding a practice, saving up some money and getting out of this apartment manager thing.

T minus 21 hours and counting!

Graduation is upon us! Tomorrow morning is the big day. I am so excited for Dave! We just got home from his school where they had an informal clinic graduation ceremony. Dave and his classmates went all out. They passed out noise-makers, boom sticks, cow bells and shot confetti poppers when each graduates name was called. It was a lot of fun to see them celebrate after all the hard work they put into school.

Dave busted out the trike to take to school. This thing is a chopper-inspired trike on steroids. The picture doesn't do the huge tires and studded leather seat justice. Picture that trike with that guy riding it down the halls at Life Chiropractic College West with a girl standing in the basket making as much noise as possible. I gues it's a school tradition that the graduating class does something crazy the last week at school. Dave wanted to hire a marching band to go through the halls but that didn't work out, so instead Dave lead the march through the halls on the mega-trike.

It's all happening fast. I ironed Dave's graduation robe tonight and we are ready to go for tomorrow. It's going to be a great day!!

T minus 2 days and counting!

2 days and 19 hours to be precise until Dave GRADUATES! He called me today after his last test and almost sounded like a different person. I was told by everyone, and kept reminding myself, that this hard time while Dave was in school really would go by fast. Now that we are so close to graduation it does seem like the time went quickly. I think we were blessed with selective memory! A lot of the bad, stressful times have been forgotten.

YEAH DAVE!!! I am so excited for him! He is an awesome Doctor of Chiropractic and I think he even has a job. I'm not going to jinx anything so no formal announcement yet. Good things are coming his way!

It's been an entire week of accelerating celebration. Tuessday night Dave and I went to his senior dinner at Scott's in Jack London Square in Oakland. We had a nice meal and listened to a few speeches from the Dean and several students. Dave got a certificate in a cheesy frame for being selected as a "Who's Who Among Students" in American Colleges and Universities. *whew* It's a long name for a recognition that basically gets your name in a book that you can buy for a nominal fee ($70!) and your name in the local paper. Those people recognized are nominated by their teachers and faculty so that's cool that they honored Dave. I think he's been amazing with all he accomplished during school and it's nice that he's been recognized for it.

My Mom sang with a choir at this Christmas Creche Exhibit in Palo Alto on Sunday. I'm just now getting to the computer to write about what I was thinking about on the way home from the concert. (where does the time go?) Dave was sick so he stayed home with the boys and J and I made it a girls night. It was awesome- beautiful music and amazing creche scenes!

The hour-long concert was superb. I wish I had a recording of a lot of the songs they were that good- they sang more difficult arrangements of Christmas songs that I, as a long-time choir member, appreciated very much. There was a bell choir, violinist, flautist (yes, that is a word), fantastic organist and the choir. Mom sang a happy solo towards the end and I wished it was longer. When the choir director announced Mom's name as the soloist Aunt Lauren turned to J and said, "Do you know her?" J said NO. She only knows Mom as Gramma Evie so hearing her formal name didn't register. Plus she was too busy talking to Uncle Dan on his lap.

There were nativities from all over the world on display. It seemed every large room in the church was filled with glowing tables of nativites. The highlights were a picture of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus made out of Legos (incredible!), nativities carved from wood, made out of foil paper, formed from clay, made out of bottle-brush and beautiful ornaments with the Madonna and Child on them. It was a feast for the eyes!

My favorite nativity was a contemporary scene carved out of different colored woods from China. J-bird loved the Lego creation. She thought it was cool that it looked funny up close and then came into focus the farther she stepped away. It was good I didn't take my camera because I would have been SO tempted to snap away even though photos weren't allowed.