My hubby has a White Coat!

... and not just any old white coat ...  : )

Thursday was so stinkin' amazing!  Let's see if I can set the stage.  His parents came to town first, we enjoyed some Salsarita... ok engorged ourselves, but whatevs... and then his Mom and I buzzed around town a bit.  In the meantime, JJ's brother, AJ and SIL LJ came to have a hand in JJ's BIG DAY.

AJ and JJ headed to the auditorium... a bit late... but everything seemed to work out just fine there.  CJ, RJ, LJ, MVJ and I hung out for a bit, having a snack and getting prettied up for the evening's festivities.  I got a new black dress last week and MVJ even had a cute little black and white number with her sweet little black dress shoes.  In fact, I think all of us had new outfits besides CJ, JJ's dad.  Maybe AJ too...

Ok, so I drove us to the school, which is in downtown KC.  I hate HATE driving in big cities, but Gar-gar did not disappoint and we made it safely, with one wrong move that I don't think anyone even caught because I got off a ramp and then right back on a little bit later.  : )  Oops, now at least LJ may know... ; )

We drove around looking for parking - there seemed to be a lot of people milling around so I knew seating was going to be troublesome.  JJ's class is very large and people were only allowed to have four guests at the event.  Well, it seemed everyone used up their four tickets, thankyouverymuch.  We made a quick u-turn and ended up in a parking lot with an empty spot or two.  Phew!  We walked around the campus towards the building everyone dressed up was walking to.

There was NO room on the ground floor so we headed up to the balcony.  There was plenty of room to move about and this was probably the best place for us.  MVJ could wiggle and squirm to her heart's content, while her mother tried desperately to keep her from jumping off said balcony.

The White Coating Ceremony of the Class of 2014 began with a welcome from the Executive Vice President for Academic and Medical Affairs, who also happens to be the Dean of JJ's school.  Then we heard a little speech from the student senate president, a second year giving out all kinds of valuable advice (like make sure you take time for your family and hobbies... yeah!)  : ).  Then the keynote speaker was the acting pres. and chairman of the board of trustees - and coincidentally, the auditorium we were in was named for his father.  He, too, gave an inspiring speech.  I was so proud as he addressed my husband and his classmates.

THEN they had the traditional white coating.  The special thing about this particular white coating is that JJ was able to be coated by one of his brothers.  It was so special and so neat.  It was made a teensie less emotional and dramatic by the fact that I was chasing after MVJ, but she honestly did very well, as long as I let her run around.  When JJ was on stage, she did do her classic, "Goooo Daddy!" a few times.  It was so sweet!  We got *just a few* pics of the ceremony - you can check them out on fb.  As each line of students put on their special white coat for this significant first time, they smiled for a long pause as the camera panned on each of them, then they walked off stage.

After all 250some students donned their new special medical accessories, the curtains raised for a dramatic moment as, behold the WHOLE class was gathered together on risers.  The audience burst into a loud standing ovation.  JJ said that he felt like he was at a rock concert, but as a musician.  He told the gal next to him (an Amy Adams lookalike), "It feels like we're at an AC/DC concert!"  When he didn't get a reaction, he tried again, "Justin Bieber?"  Everyone laughed and AA's twin replied, "That's a good one."

Then they said their oath, which went well until the part about striving to develop those qualities that will earn the respect of my "patients, my colleagues, my family and myself."  The students basically want the respect of their patients and themselves... but to be fair, the guy was pausing at weird times during that line...

We headed outside with little hope of finding JJ amongst the crowd.  The little hope we did have came from the fact that he is taller than the general public.  As I was looking around frantically, we realized that he had snuck up behind us.  Yay!  We took a few pictures and headed out to a fancy pants ballroom for JJ's fancy pants reception.

There were not enough chairs but by this time, MVJ at least seemed to have mellowed out and was not a frantic baby, so that definitely helped the situation for this guy.  JJ directed me to just go find a chair while the others got food and we tried to congregate somewhat together.  The table I happened upon had a family from MN of all places and the mother was a special educator.  Small world!  She was amazed that I had secured a job, so I felt pretty proud of myself.  : )  The food was deliciously fancy, but friendly enough for MVJ to find favor with it.  I think I may have gotten the last of the white fluffy stuff that was for desert with the yummy cake (pound cake?), which came complete with chocolate dipping sauce and a variety of fruit.  I was complaining about there not being much for desert (you know, have to pick apart everything...) when JJ reminded me that this was a function for doctors and so they had to have a resemblance of healthfulness.

I wish we would've gotten pics at the reception because we could've taken more time and could've gotten someone to take a pic of all of us.  Oh well.  It was a fabulously special night for my hubby and I am so incredibly proud of him.  The whole ceremony had a live online feed and is supposed to be put online soon.  I hope to somehow save it so we can have a copy to save forever.