Graduation Weekend

We had a wonderful graduation weekend! Nashy graduated from Brainy Marvelous College, where 311 amazing young women received degrees. Nature Boy thinks the place looks like Hogwarts, and it kind of does.
Congratulations, Nashy! We love you sooooo much.

Too Soon Gone

If he had lived, my father would be 71 years old today.

He died at 42.

Yes, his eyes were as twinkly as this picture, and his smile was as mischievous. At his funeral, the church overflowed with people from every walk of life. One image that is burned in memory is of Songbird's tiny lady-like grandmother waiting in line to get in the church next to next to group of young basketball players my dad had befriended.

My dad was a small town lawyer, a general practitioner who took almost every kind of case in his early career. (For the blessedly short time he took criminal and divorce cases, we were not permitted to answer our home phone.) Almost every time I visit my hometown, I meet someone who knew him, someone with a story of a time he was kind to them or helped them through a difficult time. He was funny and smart, and somehow he managed to have both high standards and many friends.

My daughter will graduate from college on Sunday. I wish he were here to see her. He would be so proud.

What We've Been Doing Around Here

I haven't been posting as much as I should, because it's been a little crazy around here. I'll share a little photo album of what we've been up to. It's not the complete docket, but it will give you a taste of life around this little patch of the Little Blue State. I don't have pictures of Nashy and Witter, because they are away at school, working hard to finish the semester. Witter is rehearsing for juries, and the sound of French and Italian art songs and arias don't photograph very well. Neither do Nashy's activities;she's finishing her Senior Thesis and final classes before she graduates from BMC on May 18. Oh, and interviewing for jobs for next year.

Shiny has been very creative in the last few weeks. She played Poppy in Noises Off, put up her art installation, sang Stormy Weather with the school jazz band, and went to the prom before finally collapsing in a heap of sleepy girlness on Saturday afternoon. Nature Boy, Garden Girl and I have been getting ready for Corporate City Garden Day, which benefits a local children's charity. Oh, and Garden Girl got some bees! I hope we'll have some honey in the fall.

Here are the photos --

Armadillo Rodeo

Here's what happened at our house---


Nature Boy (a second-grader): I'm worried that I'm going to be in trouble.

Me: Why?

NB: I got sent to the principal two times.

Me: (bites tongue and doesn't yell) What did you do to get sent to the principal?

NB: Well, I did a flip into music. More like a somersault, but I landed at the right part of the circle. And I didn't hurt anybody or anything.

Me: OKaaay. What happened the second time?

NB: I said, "armadillo rodeo" too many times in library.

Me: (bits tongue and doesn't laugh) Armadillo rodeo, eh? Bet that made your teacher pretty annoyed.

NB: Yeah, but I couldn't help it. It's too fun to say. I said it over and over and over.

One Week Later --
Me: armadillo rodeo. armadillo rodeo. armadillo rodeo. armadillo rodeo. armadillo rodeo.

Think they'll send me home from work? Because, really, I can't get "armadillo rodeo" out of my head.

My New Morning Habit

This is what I reach for in the morning as soon as I log on --

Indexed -- the world defined through Venn diagrams and Cartesian graphs. It may not sound funny, but trust me, it is. For all you churchy types, I give you two examples --

Weddings --
She Wants MORE Presents?











Funerals --
Where's the Feeling?












Check it out. Indexed.

Knock the Gobble

On our way home from dinner tonight, we talked about an adoption proceeding we attended on Friday. It was a second parent adoption, in which a step-parent adopts a child who only has one legal parent. In the Little Blue State, this means that kids with gay parents get to have two legal parents, with all that entails, including inheritance rights, social security benefits, and legal ties to both the parents who are raising them. Plus, any children of the adopting parent become legal siblings.

On Friday, a dear friend adopted the nine-year-old twins her partner gave birth to before they were a couple. In the adoption, the twins also gained a sibling, Caroline. After the decrees were signed, the judge called the twins to the bench and had them deliver the decrees to their new mom. Then, in lovely gesture, he asked their six year old sister, Caroline, to come behind the bench, where he let her bang the gavel to adjourn the court. Pretty cool thing for a little kid.

I adopted Nature Boy in a similar proceeding when he was less than two years old. He doesn't remember, so he watched everything with eagle eyes, and tonight we talked about all we had seen. He thought it would be strict, like court on TV, but the judge was kind and funny. He wanted to know if the same things had happened when he was adopted, and we told him how his grandfather had testified that he was glad I would raise his grandchild, how his brother and sisters had spoken to the judge about wanting to have him as a little brother, and how glad we are to be a family. He was quiet for a moment and then said, "There's one thing I don't understand. Why did the judge let Caroline knock the gobble?" It only took us a minute to understand that he meant bang the gavel, and we all laughed.

Here is the concluding language of the case that made second parent adoption possible for children in our state:

In fact and therefore in law, what does matter in the best interests of both Peter and George is that Gene Hart and Burke Shiri live in a loving and long lasting committed relationship. In fact and in law, what does matter in their best interests is that Peter and George have already begun to reap the benefits of the love of these two men and have, even in their tender years, returned it in kind. In fact and in law, what does matter in the best interests of Peter and George is that they are thriving in the environment created by Gene Hart and Burke Shiri.
Having stated the above and for reasons stated on the record the Court
concludes that it is in the best interests of both Peter and George to say in the
eyes of justice and law what is already in fact - namely:
- Peter Hart - shall be and is HEREBY the adopted child of Burke Shiri.
- George Hart - shall be and is HEREBY the adopted child of Burke Shiri.

Amen. Knock the gobble.

Forty Years Ago --

From the Revised Common Lectionary for Sunday April 13, 2008

Acts 2:42-47

Those who had been baptized devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

The year: 1968, a Sunday in Springtime. The place: my grandparents' church in a small Southern town. They are Bible-thumping, no dancing, no cards, no alcohol, country Methodists. I am eight years old, busily cutting pictures from magazines and gluing them to manila paper to illustrate the Bible story. Excited by the idea that the early Christians banded together to share what they owned with whoever needed it, I ask the Sunday School teacher why we can't do that, why we can't just share everything, rich and poor people, white and black people together. Jesus would like that, right? All the people eating their food with glad and generous hearts would be great, wouldn't it?

This is the first time I hear the word Communist. . .