Once again this year we prepared an elegant dinner for our student workers who are graduating. Many of them have been with us for three years or more and will be greatly missed. We plan and polish and cart in china and stemware, real silver and cloth napkins. The menu is set (various flavors of baked chicken from ginger spice to plain along with baked potatoes with all the fixings including broccoli). Have to have Martesciello's rolls - they are the best - and a colorful fruit salad. For dessert, ice cream cake. And of course coffee and tea.
I do the flowers again - a pretty combination of purples, whites, and a touch of yellow. I enjoy spreading out on the back counter in collection services and calling up skills learned at TSTI (Texas State Technical Institute) where Mom and I took a flower arranging class. Curious how that has stayed with me all these years. That had to be back in 1973. I have always loved flowers and try as often as I can to have fresh ones in my living room cheerfully brightening everyone's day. These bouquets go together easily, almost begging to be part of the doings.
The students arrive for hors d'oeuvres and chat in the conference room for a bit, then we adjourn to the Fireside Room where the tables gleam and the atmosphere is a hushed elegance. Dinner is filled with plans and memories, razzing and fun. Then we recognize each student with a Golisano Library mug complete with their name and year of graduation, plus a certificate of achievement where we list their contributions to our work.
I have every expectation that these fine young men and women will have wonderful lives filled with God's blessings and that they will check back with us occasionally to let us know how things are going. How amazing to see them all moving into the next phase of their lives!
The evening concludes with a stint in the dishpan as we work together to clear the clutter and put things back in their cases. It was a good time, a good celebration, a good evening to be long remembered.
I do the flowers again - a pretty combination of purples, whites, and a touch of yellow. I enjoy spreading out on the back counter in collection services and calling up skills learned at TSTI (Texas State Technical Institute) where Mom and I took a flower arranging class. Curious how that has stayed with me all these years. That had to be back in 1973. I have always loved flowers and try as often as I can to have fresh ones in my living room cheerfully brightening everyone's day. These bouquets go together easily, almost begging to be part of the doings.
The students arrive for hors d'oeuvres and chat in the conference room for a bit, then we adjourn to the Fireside Room where the tables gleam and the atmosphere is a hushed elegance. Dinner is filled with plans and memories, razzing and fun. Then we recognize each student with a Golisano Library mug complete with their name and year of graduation, plus a certificate of achievement where we list their contributions to our work.
I have every expectation that these fine young men and women will have wonderful lives filled with God's blessings and that they will check back with us occasionally to let us know how things are going. How amazing to see them all moving into the next phase of their lives!
The evening concludes with a stint in the dishpan as we work together to clear the clutter and put things back in their cases. It was a good time, a good celebration, a good evening to be long remembered.
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