It was June 17th, 2007 and I was living in Sacramento at the time. My family had graduation tickets to get into the ceremony and were driving up that same day to meet me at the campus. It all started when I was already dressed in my gown and lined up with the other bagillion graduates and I got a call from my dad saying they were halfway there. Oh, and that they forgot their tickets. They had to turn around from about the Yuba City point and go back to Paradise to get them. Blerg!
Dustin's family was also meeting us there: his mom, grandma, and grandpa. Turns out that grandpa wasn't feeling well by the time he got to the ceremony, so he sat in the car the whole time. He sat in the car through the 2 hour drive there, 2+ hour ceremony, and the 2 hour car ride home. Yikes. I felt so bad that he had to do that.
Well, my family managed to make it to the ceremony without missing me walking. Meanwhile, I was sitting in a crowd of probably 10,000 graduates and if you've ever been to any graduation ceremony, you know it takes a freaking. long. time. to read that many names.
I fell asleep.
The gal next to me revived me when it was our turn to finally walk up to the stage. As I basked in my moment of glory receiving my diploma and shaking hands with a dude I had never met, I awaited the familiar cheers and faces of my family somewhere in the massive crowd.
*Insert crickets chirping here*
Okay, it wasn't quite that bad. There was the average amount of cordial applause for other graduates you don't know, but where was my family?
Turns out they cheered for another girl whose name sounded like Jessica Marie Haaker because they were not used to my married name yet. Hmm.
And here's where it gets good.
After the ceremony, I found my family and there were some moments of happiness in there. Then the plan was to all drive to Sacramento and meet at Chevy's for dinner. Since my in-laws had grandpa to take back home, they wouldn't be joining us, so that was disappointing. Dustin and I drove separately and had to stop for an errand just about 1/2 a mile from the Chevy's once we got into the city.
Enter the crackhead.
We were in a parking lot when this woman with dreadlock hair and very poor hygiene comes up to us frantically asking for a ride. She says her son was injured somehow (bee stings, asthma, can't quite remember) and she isn't able to get to him and he's just down the street. Normally I would be sympathetic to this situation, but not only are there Chevy's Megaritas waiting for me just minutes away, but this lady is really setting off my this-doesn't-feel-right detector. Something is off, and I don't know exactly what it is. She seems like she's on some kind of stimulant, and I don't trust her story completely. I suggested getting the cops to come meet her there to help, but dustin decides to offer her a ride.
It gets worse.
She sits in the front passenger seat, and I'm right behind her in our small, close-quarters dodge neon. The B.O. is acrid and the wind from the open front window is blowing it directly in my face. She directs dustin where to drive, and before we know it we're on the freeway. I thought this was just down the street? So we drive.
And we drive.
And we drive.
Finally, she indicates an exit to take and now we're in a very unfamiliar neighborhood. My intuition is telling me something bad could happen here. What if she doesn't have a son at all? What if she's taking us to some remote location so someone there can rob us? Finally, after what must have been at least 10 miles of driving for what felt like about 20 minutes, we drop her off. Amazingly, we don't get robbed. We don't see a child either, but at least we're safe. Who knows what the real story was that day, we were taking her to a drug dealer for all we knew. Meanwhile, our family has been waiting at the restaurant for us to join them and I am STARVING, not to mention incredibly exhausted and agitated.
We quickly get out of this iffy neighborhood and make our way back to Chevy's. We are an hour late and my poor family has been waiting all this time. I'm so agitated, all I want is my Megarita. For those of you who have never had a Chevy's Megarita, it is their ginormous size margarita which comes in a variety of heavenly flavors. It's one of the main reasons I chose to come here, in addition to the fajita platters which are amazing. We finally get to there and I order a blended Megarita and a fajita platter and try to be cool.
Finally, my Megarita is here! . . . . On the rocks, not blended.
I LOST it. I start balling my eyes out in front of the whole restaurant out of a combination of hunger, exhaustion, and anger. After this glorious graduation day, all I wanted was my blended margarita and even that couldn't go right.
So you see kids, this is why margaritas hold special significance on my graduation day. It's not just that they're a delicious and refreshing beverage, true though that may be. It is that they are symbolic of everything that went wrong on my last graduation day. And this time, well, it's time for redemption.
This is why the theme of my graduation party is margaritas. A promised land of both the blended and on-the-rocks varieties (the latter of which is ironically now my preference) as far as the eye can see! A land flowing with margaritas and pulled pork sandwiches, with no restaurants, no crackheads, and a land where people know my real freaking name.
I can now look back on that day and laugh at the ludicrousness of it all. But this time around, I want my graduation day to be a happy time to remember, even when Murphy's Law kicks in and things start to go wrong. So here's to redemption and good times with family and friends.
Cheers.
