"To Start Out My New Life"
I attended a lovely graduation party tonight. The graduate is a neighbor. She is an amazing girl/woman. She is partially deaf, but reads lips very well and is integrated into the hearing community. She plays the harp and paints while maintaining very high grades. She greets everyone with a smile and a hug and we couldn't be prouder to know her. She and her mother live alone and seem to enjoy each other immensely.

Her grandfather (our veterinarian, by the way) hosted the party at his home out in the country. His home was so beautiful I had to hold my jaw up as I looked around. They had filled the evergreens with white lights and filled the yard with tables decorated in crimson and cream, the colors of OU, where she will attend this fall. Storms passed by us on all sides, but it did not rain on the party. We dined on shrimp and chicken and enjoyed the cool night air as the young at heart danced on the black and white dance floor. Lightning bugs added to the atmosphere. (Who doesn't love lightning bugs?)

Mother and daughter are leaving in two weeks for a trip to France. They promised to send postcards from the Louvre. The beautiful young graduate said to me, "I am so excited about this trip to France. It's the best beginning to start out my new life!"

Indeed it is, child. Indeed it is.

"Oh, baby, baby it's a wild world,
It's hard to get by just upon a smile.
Oh, baby, baby it's a wild world,
I'll always remember you like a child, girl."
-Cat Stevens