After the big graduation—the one where we did not see Matthan and the one where Matthan sat with the wrong school—we went to the School of Cinematic Arts. We wanted to meet Matthan and take pictures. But he was not there. We took pictures anyway—I was the star: Uncle Jeff wanted me to put my hands out in the shadow pretending to be a famous movie star or something. It was funny!

We walked back to Matthan’s house and there he was! I got to wear his lei and still. It was fun. My Dad and Uncle Jeff took a nap: Dad was tired from driving Uncle Jeff from saving seats at 6:00 in the morning! I ate lunch at Matthan’s house and then he left for photos with friends.

We went to the Shrine Auditorium for the next Graduation. In College you get two ceremonies in one day!! Pretty cool!  We were hoping to sit and rest in the air conditioning but the doors were locked: we scrunched up against the building to stay in the shade.

The Ceremony was very nice. I was listening and I paid attention when the speakers talked more about `adult life’ and about `feelings’ like disappointment.  They also talked about doing little things well and telling stories in movies. All very cool. My Mom said that I got the most important things.

Well, the most important was watching Matthan walk across the stage and receive his diploma. He was very small but we got to see him on the big screen.  I took a picture. It was fun!

After that we went to the reception at the School of Cinematic Arts. By the time we got there, the fruit was all gone so I ate a gluten-free bar from my mom’s purse. I took some photos of the food but I did not eat any. Dad and Uncle Jeff ate lots of goodies but I was very brave. I waited. Then we took some more photos around campus. Uncle Jeff found more free food: half a box of pizza! `Lunch for tomorrow,’ he said.

Pizza is not gluten-free. Matthan made a us a nice gluten-free supper.

I was very tired.  Matthan’s Graduation Day started very early in the morning. It was very hot. It was very exciting. It was very fun! I was exhausted!  Congratulations Matthan!

In the morning my Mom was being very silly: taking pictures of the hotel! Crazy! I guess she was feeling sad that we might never come back to this hotel again! We stayed in this hotel each time we visited Matthan because . . .  Now this is really silly. Because she knew how to get from USC to hotel. Well, this is not completely true because she has taken a few wrong turns these past four years but we never got in an accident: maybe it helped having a `Montana’ license plate on our car.

Matthan had all his stuff outside ready to pack into the van: bicycle, skis, books, boxes, lots of stuff. We said `goodbye’ `see you in June’ and we were on our way home again!

Graduation  Day: May 16, 2014! I had put this date on my calendar in September. And it finally came! The Graduation Website to arrive on campus at 6:00 a.m. No problem for me to get up at 5:15 because I was so excited.  I tried very hard to be quick: I ate applesauce in the car on the way to Matthan’s house. When we got there, Uncle Jeff had already left for campus. He saved chairs for us.  This gave us some extra time: Matthan had made some nice breakfast sandwiches for us to eat.

After the quick breakfast, it was rush rush rush: Dad dropped us off with the car and then we started looking for Uncle Jeff.  My Mom was confused about his directions: groupie section @ statue’s 4:30 for 40 meters. Fortunately we saw him with his hat so it was okay. Uncle Jeff and I hung out together taking silly photos while my Mom walked around taking her photos.

At 8:00 it was time for a bathroom break. My Mom put me in line at the port-a-potties and told me to stay put and save our place. I was confused and sort of lost wondering what she wanted me to do. Some people in line helped me and then she came back:

`I found an open door Mathalia! We can get out of this line and use a bathroom in a building. It will be nicer and faster.’

I said `goodbye’ to the friendly people who helped me stay in the line and then I had to stay close to my Mom otherwise I would get really lost!

Then we saw Matthan! with four friends! We were so lucky! There were so many graduates walking around but we saw him! I took a really fast photo before he rushed off with his friends.

My Mom told him, `We are sitting very close to the School of Cinamatic Arts, Matthan.  Maybe we will see you.’

`No, I am not sitting with my School.  I am going to sit with the School of Business.’

Oh, okay. So we did not see Matthan again and we don’t know if he stood up with the Business School—we did not see him stick out of the crowd of graduates when School of Cinematic Arts stood up. 🙂

The speaker had a nice speech and I tried to follow it. He talked about `adult life’ about `feelings’ and about gratitude.  My Mom said that I got the most important points.

At the end, the President had the students stand up and said, `I warmly salute you.’ And then they read some Latin and Greek which was something about the Kingdom of Troy will rise again. I know about this because last year we listened to the Iliad on the road to Los Angeles during Spring Break. And I have a picture with Matthan at Tommy Trojan Statue.  We took this photo when he was a freshman. Now—with Graduation—there was a long line of people for Tommy Trojan so we skipped the Senior Tommy Trojan photo.