#35 Badass Graduate. You did it Em!

My child is freaking badass. Emmy has officially graduated from Cornell with a degree in Computer Science and Government.

She survived the ups and downs of being a college student during the pandemic. She was part of the Cornell Big Red Band for all five years in the color guard, captain of the guard, publicity co-chair, trumpet-playing pep band participant, and away-game bus storyteller. She planned themed parties for the houses she lived in, worked as a barista at Olin Library's Starbucks, was a TA for freshman level coding, and took classes that I didn't even understand what the titles meant.

She made a group of friends for life -- one of her friends told me, "Thanks for giving birth to my very favorite person in this world".

I'd say she experienced the heck out of her undergraduate time and now is ready to take on the world!

She has an internship with the National Democratic Training Committee Curriculum Division that starts shortly.

Unfortunately, the graduation ceremony was cancelled, being that Ithaca had a 10% infected rate of COVID and the campus was on red-level lock down. The Omicron variant is hitting htis area hard and is spreading like wildfire. And the majority of her friends tested positive so of course she was concerned about exposing us.

How can we celebrate her accomplishments in a socially distanced, "as safe as it can be" way? We decided to geocahe around the campus and get up close and personal with all the places that were near and dear to Emmy during her time at school (while avoiding people as much as possible).

For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, a geocache is defined as:

noun

(in the activity or pastime of geocaching) an item, typically a container holding a number of other items, that has been hidden at a location whose coordinates have been posted on the internet.

We uploaded a Geocache app and proceded to go around campus looking for tiny hidden treasure boxes based on sketchy clues and coordinates listed in the app. We looked for three. We found two. We wrote our names on the log-in sheet. Geocaching Badass Adventure complete. Nice way to spend a glorious sunshiny warm day in upstate New York.

Plus, I got to snap some photos. These are her official graduation photos since her cap and gown didn't arrive (just as well the ceremony was cancelled, right?). She will be able to walk in May's ceremony so hopefully I'll be able to grab some more official pictures then.

Y'all know how proud I am of her. Emily, when I grow up, I hope to be as badass as you are. Go get'em Em!!!!!!!!!!! I love you dearly!

Emily is not only brilliant, but socially aware and very respectful of preventing spread of COVID. While she was waiting for the last few days of clearance (post-exposure to her COVID+ friends), she wanted to isolate.

So Oliver and I planned some fun adventures just for the two of us and headed for the hills. Literally. We went to Robert Treman state park and did some mountain hiking. On our way down, we stopped to have some rock skipping contests and target practice. I love hanging with this boy.

We also managed to see the entire series of Squid Games, went to Wegman's (don't know what Wegman's is? It's like Publix and Jewel on steroids!), played many games of Milles Bournes and restarted an addiction to Gin Rummy. I enjoyed so much spending this week with Ollie -- I am ridiculously proud of this kid and love being with him.

He's back in Chicago now and while I'll miss him on Christmas Day, I feel I got the best Christmas gift to be able to have had him to myself for the past week. I'm a lucky mom!

And I get even luckier to now be sitting with Emily in the Syracuse airport. We are heading home to St. Pete for a week of isolating together and hanging out at home. I want her to stay infection-free so she can get back to Ithaca well and ready for her New Years Eve party and the start of her job. So we will be avoiding people, sitting on the beach or underneath the palm trees at the pool, eating delivery, doing crafts, playing marathon games of Wii Party, and chilling. I simply can't wait!

I would like to take this time to thank all of you for your support of this project, for boosting my confidence and encouraging me to take these leaps of faith, and for being the badassiest group of people I ever had the pleasure of knowing.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you, I wish you peace, joy, and uncontrollable laughter! With much love, Beth