It's all over

Gerard graduated alongside the rest of this year's Knight Wallace Fellows on Thursday. Certificates were awarded, champagne was served, the class gift was presented and yet it felt like a wake as we tried to fight back tears during Tony, Jamie and Fara's valedictories. Everybody moved numbly around the house at the function following the ceremony, trying not to become overwhelmed by the feeling of loss and regret and disbelief that the end of the year had arrived. Or was that just the blogger girls, Julia and me?

The next night's prom was a better send-off where we showed if we were going to have to leave Ann Arbor, we'd do it with a bang. Nothing like vigorous dancing with dear friends to primarily 80s pop in the grown-ups' house to make you look like an idiot feel young again. We even had a Prom King and Queen. And a chillout lounge, with a psychedelic iTunes display from my laptop projected onto the ceiling. I took no photos, but the curious can see the fun thanks to Julia and Lisa.


I'd had lots of fun putting together the right playlist, from 867-5309/Jenny to You Spin Me 'Round, with a bit of Cuban salsa, Turkish pop and Buenos Aires-inspired tango grooves from the Gotan Project thrown in to fully represent the fellowship year.


Drew put it best in an email the following day: "So I woke up this morning a pumpkin. The fellowship's over, and my fairy godmother's left me high and dry." Damn you, Father Time.