The pinning ceremony is a nursing tradition. Nurses wear pins (usually on their name badge at work) to identify what school they graduated from. These pins were presented to us at the ceremony last night and we were able to choose someone to pin us. I chose David, as my husband-to-be.

But before all of that happened, my parents, David, and I all arrived waaaay early because we didn’t know how the traffic would be. So we decided to get some picture-taking out of the way:

And for some reason I find this very amusing: my mom trying to take a picture of David and me without realizing that the camera was set to record. Obviously I don’t have much patience for this, but David just laughs.

Soon enough my brothers arrived. At this point we were also sharing the table with another family, a family much quieter than ours. As we were waiting for our food, we had the following conversation.

***

Dad: So Uncle David is getting another Ridgeback. They got a good deal on it because it doesn’t have the show-quality ridge. They’re naming it Rigby.

Brother David: Like Eleanor Rigby?

Me: Who is Eleanor Rigby?

Dad (shocked): Kat! David Cook just sang it on American Idol!

Me: So she’s a singer?

Dad (even more shocked): Kat! It’s a song by The Beatles!

Brothers (in unison): AHHHH LOOK AT ALL THE LONELY PEOPLE

Me: I have never heard of it. [This is true. I listened to it later.]

Dad: I can’t believe this.

Me: Listen, I am not a Beatles fan. I don’t dislike them, I will listen to them, but there are so many other things that I would rather hear.

***

My future mother-in-law will be devastated when she reads this, but there it is. My confession.

Continuing with the evening, we waited quite a long time for our food. In fact, David and I were finished with the whole pinning ordeal before we even took a bite. Ah, what the heck, here’s a little video of me being pinned.

So by the time we got to eat we were all ravenous. We promptly cleaned our plates, and my brother Barry asked for seconds, which I don’t think was part of the deal. After he got his request, though, we discovered that we could all just go help ourselves to seconds, even though no one else was doing so. One woman that we were sitting with offered Barry her roll, but he politely declined. A minute or two later, this happened.

***

Dad (to stranger woman): My wife would like your roll.

Mom: Chris! (She hides her face in her hands.) I am SO embarrassed. You were not supposed to say that!

Dad: What? You wanted it!

Stranger woman: I did offer.

***

I like how my family is the noisy one that eats all the food along with other people’s. I think we have more fun.

So now I am pinned. Tonight, I graduate!