sentimentalities

Greetings all,
It’s been wonderful reading about your adventures away from home.  The majority of my past 2 weeks have been filled with many endings and goodbyes, so I guess this post is dedicated to the seniors that I watched walk across the stage last Friday morning.

Graduation day: (from an EMT’s perspective)

6am: First alarm - results in continuous snoozing until 6:25am
7am: Ambulance bay in Stata: we dragged first-in bags, O2 tanks, radios, and AEDs to Killian Court. Duty begins.  The benefits: free breakfast and lunch- and of course, watching the ceremony.
8:20am: Sector 3 (back right corner of Killian): My partner and I halfheartedly start a game of monopoly on her iPad, while we wait for everyone to find seats and for the graduates to line up in Johnson.
-We move multiple times to find the appropriate location where we are 1: in the shade, 2: not extremely crowded with people searching for shade, and 3: where we can watch the screen. At the end of the day, it ended up being right next to the complimentary water tent.
~10am: Operations to all sectors, we are about to begin...the professors process in, then the cute old people in red coats, and finally the graduates...the speeches..."smile with your whole body" ...brass rat turning...senior gift...more words...and finally the unending list of names.  Actually not one list, but two! It was very confusing to have both the advanced degrees and bachelor degrees being read at the same time...
-Most notable caps go to my EMT friends: Nora (with antlers) and Grace (with DNA coil)
12:15pm: Operations to Sector 3. Sector 3 answering. Sector 3, you can now go get lunch in Bldg 4.
1pm: Operations to all sectors. We are looking for 2 young boys, approximately 7 and 10 years old, last seen in Sector 3, reported to be looking for shade.
-We spot 2 little boys sitting under a tree playing video games. I close in on them along with 2 Commencement volunteers. We suspect they are the ones. Sector 3 to Supervisor Annie, we suspect to have the missing boys here. They were found to be parentless, under shade, and with the impression that their parents knew their location. Commencement volunteers are currently following the boys back to their parents. Crisis averted.
1:30pm: The names finish, concluding remarks, MIT song. Mass chaotic exodus from Killian.
2:30pm: Finally it’s all over, no catastrophes occurred.  We successfully returned 2 little boys back to their parents, and all was well. Returned bags back to the bay, and freed of duty.

My long day concluded with dinner with Ben’s family, which was very pleasant and entertaining (albeit a bit stressful for me), including good food, a few too many pictures, and lots of old snobby white people portraits.

The following day included more packing, many goodbyes, and lots of cleaning.  With the help of several people, LMF is now entirely cleaned out and locked up, just in time for the strange summer people to come in. Silly summer research program for other college students, why can't I stay in New House?

Walking back from Kendall after yet another goodbye, I wandered through campus, and I saw the classrooms that we shared lectures together, the ones we filmed in, the trees we climbed, the statues we sat on, the hallways we wandered and went chairing... old memories pop back into my head, as I pass the doors of lobby 7 again, and I’m reminded of all your wonderful faces, your voices that filled the air, and the words that made me laugh. I miss you all so much!

As Captain Hammer said, “Home is where the heart is, so your real home’s in your chest.” or rather our chests, so please stay in touch and come back soon to fill our empty hearts.

Best of luck to all of you <3