This post is dedicated to all of those (now ex) students who are experiencing the rarest of rare; the mid-year graduation. It is for all who have spent countless hours playing Mafia, stalked their friends (or enemies), eaten more pizza in a week than should be humanly possible, have payed more for books than should be legal to, 16 weeks later, sell those same books (still in the cellophane) back for 1/100 what you paid in the first place. To all of you who are now faced with the harsh realization that 4 years and $50,000 of debt have made you no more employable than you were when you last graduate, for those that have to live with your parents until you “get on your feet” (translated “give up on trying to make it on your own and opt for going to grad school”), and for all of you that will, sometime around January 3rd, come to grips with the fact that you are old now, I say congratulations.

While dedicated to all of you who find yourself staring into the scary abyss that is life-after-college, more pointedly this post is dedicated to one college graduate in particular, my brother-in-law, Waffle (yes, that’s his real name, how many times have we gone over this?). Today Waffle graduates, like many of us, with a degree that is little more than a place-holder so he can say he has a degree while he works on his real degree. As a psychology major he has a promising career ahead of him as a graduate student, at least for a while.

In all seriousness though, it has been an honor to see the boy I met in choir on his first day of high school graduate from college as the man-boy he is today. I’ve been blessed in having Waffle both as a brother and as a friend and I couldn’t be prouder; prouder of his decision to follow his passion and switch majors mid-stream, prouder that he stuck with it even when it was hard, and mostly prouder of the man he chooses to be on a daily basis.

Waffle, with every fiber of my being I am proud of you, congratulations on your great achievement, and live long and prosper.