Just Breathe...

I know I'm a slacker lol! It's been a week since Robin's graduated and I'm just now getting around to write about it. I loved being Robin's guide because it was such a great accomplishment, but let me tell you...I was soooo nervous! I felt like I was graduating! It kind of felt good because I didn't walk when I received my bachelor's, so I got to experience it through my sister. Unfortunately I had failed Managerial Accounting and had to go to summer school to make it up...I didn't want to have my family travel all the way to Georgia again to see me walk later so I just picked my degree up from the register's office...such sweet memories HA! Anyway we had to meet with the disabilities offices a couple of hours before the ceremony to figure out where we were going to walk. They made a special aisle for us to walk up...the row was not in the Master of Social Work group, it was in the Masters of Business Administration group, so we had to remember who we were to go after in the MSW group so Robin could fall into place. We ended up sitting next to 2 very nice men who were receiving their MBA's, one of them was graduating with his brother,they had completed the program together. Brian was the other guy, he was very nice and the type of person that you wish all people were like. He was interested in learning about how one functions being blind. Robin enjoyed answering his questions about her disability and how she did her papers and etc. She said she wished everyone with questions approached her as he did instead of assume or just right out ignore her. So anyway, back to the graduation plan, because we were sitting with the wrong group after Robin got her degree we would have to walk around the back and get out of line to go over to where they were taking photos; my plan was to stay in line with the MBA candidates and break off from them when they went to get their degrees and take Robin to get her picture taken. We found out that wasn't going to work because her group received their degrees after the MBA's so we wouldn't have hers to take the picture with. I began to get nervous because we were down on the floor of the auditorium and there were thousands of people in the stands that would see us...messing up! So I'm sitting there trying to figure out how are we going to maneuver this. Luckily all the Marshals were aware of what was going on with Robin's disability and were there to guide us. When it was time for the Master's of Social Work group to go one of the Marshals came to tell us to get ready and was there to help us...I was able to ask him what should we do about the picture and he said he would take care of it...he asked the photographers to stay after so Robin could take her picture. That was perfect because I did not want to be walking around out of order in front of all those people. For some reason I was so nervous...my knees were shaking! LOL! So, now it's getting close to Robin's name being called, I'm looking for the girl that we are supposed to fall in line in front of...as we're walking up the aisle that they made for Robin she's telling me "don't forget to tell me when to step up the stairs, I don't want to fall on the stage!" So I'm getting nervous with all these people and making sure I guide her right, I take her to the stage and then to the Chancellor to get her degree...I turned around and saw all those people so I got nervous and guided Robin off the stage telling her, step, step, step...once we get back to our seats I realized I didn't take her to shake the Professor's and Dean's hand!!! Oh well the good thing is everything else went smoothly..at the end we all walked out and Robin was able to go take her picture and I was finally able to breathe!