It's mild cuz I can't compare to the washing machine saga!

Granddaughter graduated today. Ceremony is at 9 AM in the college arena.

Parking on campus - $30 plus convenience fee plus taxes

Pouring rain

Security - metal detectors, wand, the whole deal and security personnel that make TSA people look like gods in comparison. Yelling, pointing, all the foolishness in higher octaves.

Speaking of higher octaves, what is it that makes attendees shriek like wailing banshees.
The woman behind me, who "seen" her kid, is apparently related to most of the students as she's was non-stop howling and clapping.

The number of people in ratty shorts, t-shirts, and flip-flops was surprising.

There was no invocation.

Thankfully, the speeches were short.

Unbelievably, the Star Spangled Banner was played and most folks near me had their hats or hand over their heart.

At the end though, my last grandchild received a BS in Applied Mathmatics-Actuarial Science Magna Cum Laude.

It was all worth it to see that.

Congrats to your grandkid!
I don't recall if there was an invocation at mine [2010], but it was a pretty tame crowd-wise.
Greg Abbot gave the commencement speech, so that was a nice addition.

Youngest step daughter is graduating in 2 weeks with education degree, I’ve been thru it 2 other times in the past 3 years for the other two and agree with everything you’ve stated but I wouldn’t miss it for the world, damn proud of them and they did it with minimal debt which makes it even sweeter. Congratulations to your grandchild!!

First of all, congratulations. That sounds like quite the accomplishment on that degree.

Also, I've never been to a college graduation. Not even mine. Sounds like I made the right choice based on your description of it. Sometimes people just disappoint on a massive scale.

Well at least a college graduate usually has something worth celebrating.

My niece goes to high school and her school system has held a “promotion ceremony” every year since she was in grade school where they all dress up and walk across the stage and get a certificate announcing that they made it to the next grade.

It’s insane how many ceremonies kids have now for the most mundane things.

Congrats to your granddaughter and your family.

I just worked traffic and security for the local college graduation yesterday (my alma-mater). Huge crowds, lots of out-of-towners who have no idea what they are doing or where they are going, no sidewalks to handle the foot traffic, and poor communication by the campus to parents made for a fun time. Not to mention that working traffic will always amaze with the level of stupidity that is present in many of those living around us...even (maybe especially) the educated.

On the upside, we got through it this year with no wrecks and no medic calls for old people passing out in the arena (happens almost every year). After it was all over I drove through campus. It was all prettied up and immaculately landscaped for graduation. And there was nobody around. Kind of a peaceful nostalgic vibe, and from a patrol cop's perspective, nice to know we just got rid of 1/5 of the town's population for 3 months .

We watched our nephew’s college graduation from University of Findley on TV. An invocation, national anthem, and right to the passing out of diplomas.

We would have gone in person, but our son’s high school graduation ceremony was the same day. We did the Pledge of Allegiance. We skipped his graduation ceremony for getting his AA degree the day before.

The last graduation I attended was a grandson's High School ceremony . A fair amount of screaming but the worst thing were the family members that were " saving seats " for late arrivals . Whole rows at a time . When my son got there with his family I saw him walk up to a row of seats and a young lady stood up and said something to him . He brushed by her and they all sat down . He texted me a few minutes later and said that the girl told him those seats were saved . He told her that her group should have gotten there on time .

I didn't attend my own, largely for these reasons, undergrad OR graduate.

My graduate advisor looked pained when I told him why I wasn't coming (faculty being there to "hood" their graduates was a point of pride in that department). He understood, but explained that faculty/staff AND graduates had complained about poor audience & classmate behavior for years. The administration didn't want to rain on anybody's special day by setting and enforcing reasonable expectations for conduct. Raining on the "special" of the 85% who were doing the right way apparently was OK, though.