Brad the Grad

Brad's graduation with his doctorate was somewhat surreal. Surreal in a good and a weird way. Surreal in that we've worked toward this goal for our entire married life, so finally reaching it is surreal. And also surreal in that there wasn't an actual moment of graduation. Like so many elements of Pandemic Life, Brad's graduation took a hit. There was no official ceremony. No hooding. No pronouncement of doctoral status. We didn't actually know- until several weeks later when his diploma arrived in the mail- what date on the calendar Duke recognized as his graduation day. So surreal.

That said, we did participate in several festive and significant activities to commemorate the event! 

Claire made the MOST PRECIOUS banner for Brad

On Thursday, Brad's program (the Graduate Program of Religion/the GPR), hosted a Zoom recognition for their graduates. It was very meaningful and my favorite of the graduation events. Each advisor gave a few comments about each graduate, followed by a few words from each graduate. It was during the girls' nap/rest/independent time, so I got to sit and watch the whole thing.

Cold brew cheers-ing afterward

The Graduate School hosted a drive-thru graduation celebration...thing...on Friday. We had to sign up for a time to go by, he received his diploma cover and a few gifts, and we got a few true photographic gems:

One of his "gifts" from the Grad School

On Saturday, we sat and watched the recorded commencement address, followed by slides of each doctoral graduate. Watched a whole lot of slides to see this one for 3 seconds (they went by degree earned, not alphabetical order):

Saturday afternoon, we hosted a drop-by graduation party at the park across the street from our house. I didn't get a whole lot of pictures taken, but we had a great time eating snacks and chatting with friends from all different corners of our life here in Durham.

Duke-themed party outfits

Friends and colleagues of Brad's from his academic track. We like all of them very much. And go to church with two of them.

And here are some family pictures with Brad in his regalia (or his "costume," as Claire called it):

I am sad that we weren't able to go and see Brad receive his hood and diploma in a formal ceremony with all the pomp and the circumstance. After waiting for such a long time to have that moment, it was really disappointing to miss out on it. BUT, we did as much as we could to properly celebrate him and his massive achievement, pandemic restrictions or not. We're all so SO proud of him!