College Relationships

Achievements and Rewards

Soon the Summer Break of 2002 arrived and another college year was completed both for me and Mona. This college year had been very special for both of us. For me, it was very special because I had completed my first year of my job and, without being too boastful about it, I couldn't be prouder of what I and the rest of the sports department and the sports coaches and college athletes achieved that year, breaking a lot of records, beating a lot of colleges in many different sport competitions and helping many college athletes go on to become some of the most successful athletes ever. For Mona, it was very special because she had completed college and finished her doctor's training. She was now a certified doctor. And she did so much amazing work at Spoonerville Hospital during her last college year and she earned the trust of all the hospital staff and the patients alike that they gave her a promotion, so she wasn't a medical student anymore, but now a medical director and at the age of twenty one, the same age of me! There was no way I could be prouder of her.

I'll never forget the day when her graduation ceremony came. I was there and so was Mona's parents and so was my dad and Sylvia (and my sibling who was nearly nine months pregnant). We were all very proud of her when she went to collect her college degree along with her other classmates. Then we went to a restaurant to celebrate many things, including Mona's graduation and promotion, my first year at being an assistant head of the Spoonerville College Sports Department, my dad's promotion of become the head grounds keeper at the Big Sky Golf Course and Sylvia's promotion of becoming an assistant manager at the hotel she worked at and my new sibling on the way. But the greatest reward Mona like the most was when we went back home and had our sex – rewarding sex, we called it.

Mona and I went to other graduation ceremonies. We were invited to go to the University of Chicago and watch PJ and Lucy collect their college degrees and congratulate them. Joining us was Peg, Pistol, their boyfriends, Patrick and Penelope and Pete and Kiera. Pete didn't want to go to because he didn't see the point – not even to see his only son's university graduation or to spend time with his two grandkids – and Kiera didn't want to go either, but Peg forced them to go. Even though she and Pete were no longer married and didn't want anything to do with him ever since he cheated on her with another lady, Peg guilt-tripped him and Kiera for not wanting to see his only son graduate university, one of the biggest achievements ever in his life, and for not wanting to bond with his grandkids any more than he usually did, which was very rare. Anyway, PJ and Lucy were very grateful that everyone came to their graduation ceremony, but they told me that they were very happy that I came, especially PJ because we've been like brothers since we were both eleven and a half. Then we had our celebration dinner at the Red Flame, where PJ was the sous chef. I remember everything we ordered was cooked and served by the head chef himself and he boasted to us how much PJ made a difference to this restaurant since he joined them. None of us could be prouder of him or Lucy, who was writing her second book of poetry. Even Pete had to admit that he was proud of his son... for 'not being the loser he expected him to be'. His own words, not mine. The rest of us never viewed PJ a loser and he has proven that he was anything but and he still is doing so to this very day.

Then Mona and I went to Harvard University and joined Bobby, Sabrina and Regina to watch Stacey and Lauren collect their college degrees. Lauren's parents were there, but Stacey's parents weren't because they were too busy with the next chapters of their own lives. Stacey felt that they've completely forgotten about her – they never even came to see their granddaughter Sabrina let alone her – but she was glad that she still had a friend like me in her life as much as Bobby, Lauren, Sabrina and Regina were. Then we went to a restaurant to celebrate not just their graduations, but also their successful careers which they continued to keep up and they still do to this day. Stacey continued to manage to get criminals to confess their crimes and Lauren was now an assistant producer at her theatre and the show they were doing now was August Wilson's Fences.

Then Mona and I went to Montgomery to see Lisa at her graduation ceremony at her college. Because her parents weren't there, we looked after Bennie and Alicia as we watched Lisa went to collect her degree. Then we went to a restaurant to celebrate and we all talked about what was going on in our lives. After Mona and I told Lisa what we achieved in the last year, Lisa told us that she recently became the editor-in-chief of Gleaming and her kids were soon going to attend kindergarten. We were all very proud of her and her kids and she was very proud of what Mona and I achieved last year and she was so grateful that we came on this very special day for her. That was just as rewarding as her degree or even more.

Because Mona didn't go to Catalina Island with her fellow college students for Spring Break, I took her on a full-week vacation there as my graduation present to her, like I promised I would. And we had an amazing vacation. We liked the nice hotel we stayed at and the nice hotel room we stayed in and we enjoyed the food, the swimming pool and the gym and everything it had to offer.

After the day of driving to Catalina Island and checking into the hotel, we spend the next one doing the Hermit Gulch Trail Loop. We all enjoyed it and the warm sunny weather was the perfect day for it. Then the day after, we visited the Catalina Island Museum and the Wrigley Memorial and Botanic Garden. We both enjoyed seeing it. Then that night we went to see the Catalina Island Casino and Ballroom, where we danced the night away. The next day, we had a restful day at the hotel and tried out the gym and the swimming pool. The day after, we had a nice walk around the Catalina Island Conservancy. Then the day after, we went to we went to the Golf Course and had a great game of golf. I was always quite good at golf, but Mona surprised me when she showed me how brilliant she was at it. Again, I gave her a compliment about how she should have been a professional golf player. Then on our last day, we did the Trans-Catalina Trail. Then the day after, we drove back home, but we didn't go back to Spoonerville immediately because it was too much of a long drive. We stayed one night at my dad and Sylvia's place in Big Sky so we could rest and recover and stayed at a place for free, which we were so grateful. And Mona loved that vacation so much and she loved everything we did, but she told me the best part was spending it with me. If she went Catalina Island with her collegemates for Spring Break, she didn't think she would have enjoyed it without me.