Then the person who gave the commencement speech, who's name has unfortunately escaped me. And with that Payton officially graduated from High School and set his sights on Mercer University.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The Diploma Stroll
Speeches were made, mostly decent, and then the walk began. And as you can imagine with so many students, it took a minute to get there, but finally it was our turn to cheer for Payton as he gathered his diploma and shook the hand of the principal.
Sea of Red
Then the traditional music started (which is called "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1" by Sir Edward Elgar for those curious) and man did they have to play through it a few times as the 800ish graduating students filed into the arena and filled up all the chairs.
Jumbotron Preview
As we waited for things to fill up they were showing pictures of the graduating class on the big screens. I snagged Payton's as it flashed by.
Big Ol Graduation
I guess I hadn't thought about it and was internally referencing my small graduation from Bellarmine many moons ago, so I wasn't expecting how massive this event was going to be. Set in a full size arena with three lines of people trying to get in wrapped around the place. Wow.
Big Ol Mall
We had some time to kill this morning, and no museum to do it in, so we went across from our hotel to the massive Mall of Georgia. At least as big if not bigger than Opry Mills, it had a little bit of everything. Impressive. If we lived in the area I could see this being a frequent visit.
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