Dr. Thorpe #2

So, over this past weekend my parents helped my brother move to Chicago - Oak Park to be exact - because as was mentioned from an earlier post, he is going to be begin his residency at Loyola University in Ear, Nose, and Throat (I don't remember the specific doctor term for ENT).

But before he could officially move away from Columbus and The Ohio State University, he first had to actually graduate, which meant being hooded. I was lucky enough to attend the very cool ceremony where the graduate - being my brother Eric - could ask any MD to hood him for the ceremony - which was my dad - Papa Joe. We made the big trek up on June 5 with my mom, dad, Grandpa Hartzell, and me in tow. We met Eric up there, and being Thorpes we waited around a lot because we're always ridiculously early to everything we attend. We sat at my brother's house for a long time and took many pictures outside (see below) including multiple combinations - Eric and Emily; Eric, Emily, Mom, and Dad; Grandpa and Eric; Grandpa, Eric, and Emily - I think you get the idea. The central focus in all of these pictures was my brother (as it should be). Anyway, we finished waiting there, until it was at least close enough to our actual reservation time to get there and not look like weirdos. We ate at Capcity Diner close to OSU's campus. It's a really good restaurant - a Cameron Mitchell restaurant - basically the Jeff Ruby of Cincinnati.

After dinner and 3 desserts (that's right, as Thorpes we take dessert extremely seriously - I'm not kidding), we went to Mershon Auditorium on OSU's campus to, that's right, wait some more, because we were early again. But it was actually a good thing this time because there are so many people who go to the hooding ceremony that you're really fighting people for a seat, literally. My mom, grandpa and I had to set up a pick play to get good seats. My grandpa had a really great pick and roll on this old lady who didn't even see it comin'. Nice play, Grandpa - he's in really good shape (he eats an apple a day - truly). After we got our seats and watched other families save about 50 seats for themselves, I went back out to get pictures of the procession into the auditorium. All of the practicing or previously hooded MD's walk in first followed by the Med students who will be hooded. It was a beautiful night. I mean don't get me wrong, it was still very hot, and I don't know how my brother and dad handled the whole robes thing, but it was still very pretty. And the chimes were playing as they walked in - very cool to watch.

One combination picture of my brother and dad. Very exciting.

In case you needed a back view - here they are again. Very, very exciting.

Another combination picture. It appears that the sun was in front of us - you can't even tell that I have eyes.

I tried to get a picture of the wrestling matches taking place in the auditorium when we were allowed in. Unfortunately, I was busy when my mom put this other mom in a full-nelson. Darn it. But seriously, we needed some doctors in there from all of the chaos and injuries. Get it - we needed doctors, but all of the doctors were somewhere else and we were all supposed to be happy and civil but we weren't because we all wanted to see our family members become doctors (you always have to explain the really good jokes).

I then went to where Eric and Dad had to wait before the procession. Here they are sweating their butts off and pretending to look natural for me. I think they did a good job. It gets a little eery how much they look alike sometimes - craziness.

The procession begins, and here comes Papa Joe. My dad looked so proud that night. It was so neat to see him and my brother together in such a really amazing scene - a dad hooding his son to become a doctor - how cool is that?!

Here comes Eric! He doesn't always show it, but I think he was really happy that night, as he should be. I was so proud watching him.

A closer view of the soon-to-be Dr. Thorpe #2.

Here's what it said in the program. Sorry, I had to take lots of pictures for Eric, so he could show his fiance Ania who is in Poland right now. Since she couldn't be there, I tried to document everything. And there it is: Otolaryngology - that means ENT.

This is actually a very bad picture, but what you're supposed to be able to see is my dad hooding Eric. Instead, you see some other OSU professor standing in the way - sorry.

Here is Eric walking across the stage officially Dr. Eric Thorpe!

Yea, Uncle Eric!

The proud parents.

The very proud niece. I love you, Uncle Eric.

At the end of the evening, we walked outside to a nice tent with dessert and punch. The ironic thing (or maybe not ironic, but very funny) was that across the street on 15th street you could see the pub crawl taking place. The bars were packed with graduating seniors getting one last night of OSU shananigans in before leaving the college life, while directly across the street are these doctors congregating nicely to eat triangle sandwiches, hummus, and Hawaiian punch. Just funny. We even saw a girl in her white t-shirt asking a cop to get her picture taken with him. Pretty funny stuff - a good way to end a great night!

Anyway, well done, Eric. We love you and are so very proud of all you've done. We can't wait to visit you in Chicago and hear all about the exciting world of the ears, nose, and throat.