Less Pompous, Due to Circumstances

The Pony and Hick arrived home safely on Friday, around 3:45 p.m. Without my albatross carcass around Hick's neck, they made the trip in 8 hours and 15 minutes. They had left Norman at 7:30 a.m., with only a gas station donut for sustenance. Though to be fair, they had dined on steak for two nights, because that's the only kind of restaurant that was open for dining. They SAID.

Anyhoo...so much for scheduling a time to check out of his apartment. The Pony did some investigating Thursday night, and saw that the drop box had been left out. So Hick came by at 7:30 Friday morning, they loaded the bedclothes and towels in the car, dropped the key, and hit the road.

They were home in plenty of time for The Pony's virtual graduation at 7:00. The Pony decided that we would watch on HIS laptop, rather than my HIPPIE, because The Pony's was designed for gaming, and has a larger screen. He set it on the coffee table, and the three of us sat on the long couch like the Simpsons in their opening credits. The Pony was on the end by the picture window, Hick in the middle, and I on the end I called before they could choose!

For an online affair, it was efficient. A main speaker, an introduction of heads of the various colleges of study. Some student leaders. The interim president's head was angled in the direction of The Pony. "See? He's speaking right to you!" Funny how that worked out with our seating arrangement.

I had asked The Pony if he wanted to put on his cap and gown, but he did not. A slideshow, with Pomp and Circumstance playing in the background, showed assorted campus landmarks, and stills from special events. The Pony exclaimed at people he knew, and events he'd attended.

"This song always makes me think of the 18 graduations I had to sit through in a gown, listening to it."

"This song always makes me remember having to PLAY IT," said The Pony, a former tromboner.

Sadly, The Pony had opened his OU box of graduation accouterments before I came upstairs to make supper. I knew that, because he announced, as I trudged up the stairs,

"Um. I should have read the instructions. I opened this tube, and red and white ribbons shot out! I think that was supposed to be at the end of graduation! Oh, well. I'm picking them up." 

And with that, he gathered those shiny ribbons and stuffed them in the kitchen wastebasket. Not much on ceremony, that Pony.

The streamed commencement lasted about 40 minutes. Genius watched it from Pittsburgh. On his own terms. Halfway through, he texted The Pony congratulations, and said he had watched it on 2X speed. At the end, rather than going through the slideshow of all graduates, The Pony showed us his own special slide in cap and gown, taken by a friend who had not been sent home during the Stay-At-Home-Down. He also showed us the one of his Bestie. It was bittersweet, having such a momentous occasion played out on our living room couch.

At the end, the interim president of OU said that graduates might want to send in photos of their graduation moment. The three of us looked at each other. Hick in his t-shirt and jeans, The Pony in stretchy pants and t-shirt, and me in my threadbare everyday lairwear of 20-year-old purple-and-white striped shirt and striped sweatpants.

"NO! I don't think so!"

The Pony agreed.

Congratulations, Pony, on your Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering. The world is your oyster. Though at present time, it might be difficult to crack.