My Story Part 76 – Graduation

Last Saturday, was my graduation.

On Friday, my brother and sister-in-law came down from Maine and stayed in Sturbridge MA. I drove up there to have dinner with them and to leave off my camera with them. However, when I was over half was there I realized that I forgot my camera… Opps! That was purpose of the trip, so I left them the key to my car and they could get my camera out of my car the next day. We had a nice dinner at a chain restaurant and I drove back home.

The next morning I drove up to Storrs where the main University of Connecticut’s campus is located and we all assembled in the basement of the Jorgenson Auditorium and we then marched up to the auditorium. After the ceremony I met up with my brother, sister-in-law and nephew for pictures. And now the pictures…

Commencement speech was given by the Mayor of Hartford, Pedro Segarra who is a School of Social Work alumni


Waiting to get hooded...


Being hooded...


Stopping to take the "Official" graduation photograph...

Afterward, my brother, sister-in-law and me went down to Stonington to have lunch at the Skipper’s Dock restaurant. I had two glasses of wine and it was good night Diana. When I got home, I crashed and I sleep for a couple of hours, lots of emotions drained me.

I said in the other blog postings, that these years have been the best years of my life so far. I have never enjoyed school more and taken part in more school activities; I was involved with student government, student groups and co-chaired committees. I enjoyed the class discussions and interaction with my classmates and I actually was friends with many of the professors and staff.

Okay, so what wasn’t OK? Well I think my age difference; most of my fellow students were in their late twenties and early thirties. I was a different generation, liked different music, watch different television shows and my night out on the town consisted of going to a coffee shop and listening to folk music. I always got a chuckle out of the first day of class when we went around the room and give some facts about ourselves, like where we got our bachelor from, in what field and when. When I said that I graduated with my bachelors in 1974, I inevitably heard someone say, “I wasn’t even born yet.” My professors loved me because I could talk about the history that they were teaching in the first person. One professor said, finally someone beside me that knows what I’m taking about. My classmates were at the beginnings of their careers and I am at the end of mine. My trans-ness was never an issue, everyone accepted me.