I told them the ceremony got pushed. It didn't. The date was exactly where it had always been. I just made it up so nobody would show.
The stage wasn't the problem. It was everything around it — the relatives, the photos, and the guarantee that the second the cameras stopped, someone would corner me with "so what's the plan now?" I didn't have a plan. I had a degree and a knot in my stomach, and I could not stand the idea of performing "successful young adult" for a crowd while quietly having no idea what came next.
So I had the degree mailed. It showed up in a cardboard tube like a poster order. And to everyone who asked, I did the casual thing — "eh, the ceremony's not that deep, walking across a stage doesn't change anything."
It was a little bit deep, actually. I just couldn't afford to admit that at the time.