Freezing your fingers clean off is an occupational hazard of photography. I got pretty close as I stood surrounded by thousands of cheering parents, grandparents, siblings and friends, trying in vain to spot him among the hoards of black-cloaked graduates.

The temperature hung at an uncomfortably low place in Folsom Stadium in Boulder. People all around me shouted directions into their fancy phones, “No, no, I’m at the bottom of the stairs to the left of the stage. No, my left. The northwest side. West. The mountain side!”

And then,  I saw him. Thankful to have chosen the correct side of the stadium (by sheer dumb luck), I snapped a few shots before he noticed me there. He pulled a silly face. As usual.

Chris graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder last Friday. He barreled through his college career in just over three years thus proving (though was there really every any doubt?) that this kid is going places.

Chris: You’re such a weirdo. But we love you anyway. Rock on.