It's 11 p.m.Shop wholesale Floral gown from cheap designer beaded evening gowns wholesalers get worldwide delivery. on a Friday night, and I am ironing in my room at the Marriot. I've never ironed anything in a hotel room before, which may explain my family's wrinkled appearance in some wedding photos. 

My husband's already snoring on the bed, and I can barely stand I'm so tired. It is December, after all. But I have miles and miles of black acetate fabric to go before I sleep. Still, I don't mind because it's for an important occasion: Tomorrow the first of our five children graduates from college. 

Frankly, it's a scene I never thought I'd witness. Not that Zach wouldn't graduate, but that he'd actually go through the graduation ceremony, or as those college kids like to call it “walk.” 

I'm pretty sure his high school graduation gown was still in a puddle on his bedroom floor when he announced he was never going through that again, and not once in the last four and a half years has he wavered from that conviction. Even though his father and I both went through our own long (and yes,Buy Fashion Junior Bridesmaid Dresses with big discount! boring) college graduations. Even though Zach's girlfriend would be going through the ceremony and he'd be there anyway. 

As recently as three weeks ago he again reminded us that he would not be going through graduation, something about not needing all that fuss and show. The fact that the university charges $75 for the grad to go through the ceremony further cemented his decision. 

My husband and I, of course, would have liked for him to “walk,” but we didn't push it. Because in the end, are you any less married if you skip the chicken dance and just elope? Is Christmas any less Christmas without tinsel and glitter? Are you any less of a graduate if you receive your diploma by mail than if you walk across a stage in a flowing gown and awkward hat? 

Of course not. Either way he would be a college graduate with a major in accounting and a minor in political science, and that certainly was enough for us.

But then he changed his mind. Maybe his girlfriend, Nikki,What exactly is a Embroidery lace dress? persuaded him. Maybe it's because we promised him we'd eat somewhere really nice afterward. He's easily swayed by a good meal. 

Whatever the reason, we're there front and center Saturday morning to watch him and the other 1,135 undergraduates accept their diplomas from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. As they march in, we notice many grads have put more effort into their hats than probably some of their classes: they are glittered, bedazzled works of art. Some just say “HIRED.Shop wholesale Bridal gown from cheap corset and tulle wedding dresses wholesalers on DHgate and get worldwide delivery.” 

Zach, is his plain black mortarboard cap, is next to a girl who has painted YOLO in bright orange on the top of her hat, which my daughter informs me means “you only live once”. Zach hates that saying, she says, because college kids use it as their excuse to do stupid things. In fact, he twitters during the ceremony something about how, of course, he would get in line next to the YOLO girl. 

The always dreaded commencement speaker turns out not to be dreadful at all. A UNL alumnus who's now a national political correspondent for The New York Times, he is insightful and witty and, above all, brief. He tells the graduates things like how they should embrace foreign experiences, even if they never leave their hometown. 

Then it's time for diplomas. This goes surprisingly fast —the entire ceremony is just an hour and 45 minutes — probably because they don't read names. It's just as well, because all the air horns and cowbells would probably drown them out anyway. His grandmother, though, thinks this is terrible. “Just how much longer would it take to read their names anyway?” she says. 

As Zach walks off, his diploma in hand,Find the perfect wedding dresses from china to wear. in his unadorned hat and wrinkle-free gown, I can't help but swell with pride. He's come far from that 18-year-old we dropped off at college just over four years ago, the one who called me constantly at first to ask about everything from how to wash sweaters to what kind of cold medicine he should buy. 

Since the day we dropped him off at his dorm, he's moved four more times — all places he's found on his own. He's landed two internships, one at the attorney general's office and another at a bank, which led to a full-time job he's been able to keep this past semester while taking night classes. 

That's the icing on the graduation cake: that he is gainfully employed and not living in our basement. He's thinking of maybe going to graduate school, maybe seeing what other job opportunities are out there. But that's for tomorrow. Today is about celebrating. 

Afterward we take photos of him with his (signed) diploma and enjoy a leisurely lunch with both our family and Nikki's — a lunch that takes much longer than the actual ceremony. 

Before we leave, I tell my son I'm glad he decided to go through with the ceremony after all, how I actually got goose bumps when they moved their tassels over. How maybe he's right, that we need more substance than show in life, but that maybe everyone needs a little pageantry and fuss now and then to mark momentous occasions from all the other days. 

Besides, I remind him, why not? After all, you only live once. 

JoAnne Beiermann lives in Columbus. She and her husband have five children.