The Circle Is Now Complete

I am now a graduate.
It was a subtle but neat ceremony. They held it in the first room we assembled in, oh those many three weeks ago. Parents and spouses sat in back taking pictures, and one by one they called us up and pinned on our wings. That part was almost terrible... about fifteen minutes before the whole thing started, they told us that the company that made the wings had hiccupped and that we would either be graduating wingless, or be awarded wings on which were inscribed the names of the people that didn't make it from the last class. But at the last moment, things worked out... oh yeah, except for the pants. We had ordered uniforms a few days after we arrived in SLC, and the two things of note about that are that a) none of the guys' pants were hemmed (which is kinda the way they do that) and b) none of the chicks got any pants. I like this airline. So today, all of the female-types wore the closest thing to navy blue they had, and all of us guys (the four of us that are left) were constantly checking our hems to see if the duct tape had come off. Funny thing about duct tape is that it sticks to everything except what you want it to stick to.

After the ceremony was fairly brutal. Most of the class was flying out about an hour later, and the hotel shuttles just pulled up and took large chunks of us away forever. No chance to party, and hardly any time for goodbyes. Suppose that's the way things work now in this new life of mine.
There are three of us left here, and as strange of a thing as this is to say, the hotel is a lonely place now without all these people who were complete strangers 24 days ago.