just thinking of you....wish you were here....

Baby Brother Billy Boy
(he hated me calling him that.....smile)

December 1962 ~ September 1982

there's a place in france....

where if you stroll down this sandy path

you just may be able to spy little boats...

Some of you know I have been hanging out with my folks during my Mama's battle with cancer. I've had my mail forwarded and been negligent about picking it up. 

Amid the bills and junk advertisements I had the most wonderful surprise!

POSTCARDS FROM FRANCE !!  

Sent to me by the sweet singing siren "ILTV" while she was on "holiday" (that's vacation for those of you who don't speak european...)

The mostest special part was the artwork on the back:

 

I am touched beyond words...truly my most favorite thing from france ever....(okay with the exception of that special kissing)...but these postcards were just for me...and when I go back to work I am going to tack them on my board.

Wait until I post the Picasso postcard which looks just like the place where I live...

Thank you so much *J* your kindness touches my heart!

And a deeply heartfelt thank you all weblog world friends for your messages and comments and emails looking after me. They make me smile and help me feel connected still.  I won't pretend we are having an easy time of it.  My energies are well spent and my mind is sometimes too heavy to write. However I am blessed beyond measure to be able to be here and take care of her.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot ~ SB 1613

Okay.  I may not agree with most of the nanny-state legislation we are now living under…but I understand why a few of them exist. Laws against allowing me to spend my own money on food containing transfat. Laws forbidding smoking out in wide open spaces. I do not agree with them…I would not have voted for them….but I get why enough people were so concerned they became law.

And then we have California’s SB 1613 which went into effect a few weeks ago.  SB 1613 prohibits California drivers from talking on their cell phone while driving without a hands free device. 

This is one law which I simply do not understand.

Anyone giving any thought to the matter realizes the problems with talking on the cell phone while driving stem from holding something in your hand other than the steering wheel…and paying attention to the conversation rather than other vehicles, bikes, pedestrians, and road conditions. 

Fair enough.

Someone explain to me how in the world the legislation of SB 1613 changes ANY of that.

I know the statistics on how distracted drivers cause accidents resulting in serious injury and death.  I lost my brother to a car accident.  I know the gig.  But ummm…you guys and gals in Sacramento…this new law did absolutely nothing to alleviate any distractions.  Truth be known, in my little life it has caused additional distractions.

First of all the conversations continue.  Ya'think I am any less engaged in the conversation if I am holding the phone?  Ah..no.  And don’t tell me to just hang up and drive. That is not the point.  The point is we now have this law that benefits nothing and no one with the possible exception of Plantronics and BlueTooth.

Truly…the conversations I have with actual people in my car are far more engaging and distracting than any cell phone discussion I may be having.  Be it one of my kids, my folks, a coworker or a friend, I am paying much closer attention to them in the seats next to me and behind me than if they were merely a voice in my ear. 

Is the next step to forbid talking in a moving vehicle? 

While it may be illegal to hold the phone up to my ear, I still can hold the hands free device up to my ear.  Ironic isn't it?  My speaking voice has a very low resonance …so if the window is down or the AC is blowing…my Bluetooth only works when I hold my hand up along my chin.  I already have glasses, long hair, earrings and a seat belt strap crowding that general area.  Now I have some Borg apparatus as well. 

I find the cold, hard, bluetooth shoved into the sensitive area of my ear cannel far more distracting than the actual phone.  I’m always repositioning the angle…or adjusting the volume.  The other hands free device...the one with the cord….is way fun to fiddle with…I play with the clip and pull the plastic wire through my mouth. I’m always having to retrieve the phone to dial or hang up by tugging on the cord. Half the time the cord pulls out. And then I have to plug it back in again. No distraction there.

Then there is the misguided impression we all now drive around with both hands on the wheel. C'mon. It’s not as if making my cell phone hands free results in my hands actually being free.

I can dial my phone while driving.
I can TEXT on my phone while driving.
I can take pictures with my phone while driving.

I can drink coffee.
I can smoke a cigar.
I can read the paper.
I can eat a taco or one of those hamburgers (without transfat) that drip all over the place.
I can change the CD and reprogram the GPS.
I can put on makeup or shave.
I haven’t tried to wax while driving…
but I bet someone has.

There is just about nothing I can’t do with my hands while driving around in California…except hold my cell phone up to my ear. (does your phone have vibration functionality? )

This is a stupid law.
It does nothing to curtail phone use in cars.
It does nothing to insure drivers hands are on the wheel.
It does nothing to limit distractions to drivers.

Maybe what I really ought to look for is the report detailing revenue generated by citations issued in enforcement of this bogusness. 

With the California state budget two months over due…I bet that dollar amount will be enlightening.

photo hunting ~ colorful

hosted by tnchick the photo hunt theme this week is colorful. This picture was taken on the stairway in the atrium of the SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art)...where I saw the Frida Kahlo exhibit...which was totally amazing.

He who laughs....lasts.....

Those of you avoiding all things Olympic...and those of you who are recording every single moment of the Beijing  coverage need to do yourself a favor and take your open minded...politically incorrect sense of humor...and go visit Jeff's weblog "A Word In Edgewise" to read today's post, "New Olympic Sports"

I read it out loud to the fam this morning and everyone was cracking up.

"she who laughs....lasts"  is etched on a little piece of glass given to my Mama by a close friend... I consider it my personal responsibility to provide comic relief...

embedded

It is Wednesday.

On Wednesdays I get to sit in this lovely little atrium.  Glass walls and a sloping glass ceiling looking out onto a pleasant flower garden.  The sun shines through the panes over the leaves making little shadows on the thick pile, well padded carpet.

Fashionable, comfortable chairs and sofas. Scattered coffee tables....the copies of The Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest, and US News and World Report far outnumber the likes of People and Cosmo. Praise God. The table lamps have the less-energy-efficient-old-fashion-light-bulbs.  Not those spiral CFL's that are too bright for my eyes...and remind me of an ugly pig's tail.

There is a rock and water fountain in the corner.  The soft babbling might sound soothing if not for the constant ringing of the telephone:

"Doctors A and Y's office...Betty speaking...."

Wednesday is my Mama's chemotherapy day.

In a fashion similar to some journalist attached to a military unit deployed in active combat...for the past seven weeks we have been embedded in a battle alongside my Mama.

Not completely unexpected...
we knew last December that we'd be in for a fight.

I've taken to taking my laptop with me. It is a several hour visit each week, most of which Mama sleeps through.  No internet access - but hey - my digital photographs are almost all organized and captioned. 

I sit with these folks every Wednesday.  We are an interesting band of accidental comrades...embedded together with our rag tag army of loved ones fighting against cancer. I don't really want to be friends with these people.  I don't really want to know about who they are embedded with.  I don't really want to know their stories.  Most of all...I don't really want to see in their faces the reflection of my own obligatory strength...or my pain...or my fear.

As I type this, I am trying not to eavesdrop on the other conversations in the room. Welllll...that's not quite the truth.  Okay....That in no way even resembles the truth.  The truth is I try not to LOOK as if I am eavesdropping... while actually trying to hear exactly every word they are saying.  (Picture big radar screens rotating on either side of my head.)

Unlike the journalist on the evening news, being embedded puts me in no physical danger. There is no one shooting at me. (In fact, I am the one doing the shooting... although my weapon is a syringe.)

I am not arrogant enough to claim to be out of harm's way.  My Mama's sickness and its symptoms wound me deeply.  Last December I bandaged my wounds tightly...to protect myself from further injury.  It is possible I wrapped them too tightly to heal.  It frightens me to expose them...they may hurt me too much.

I have not been myself.  I have let my life sidetrack. I have become dependant on the wrong things.

The past month....during this most recent skirmish my words have gone AWOL...absent with out leave.  Even now the transfer of thought through fingertip comes out disjointed. My attention span schizoids. There are a dozen half-started posts in my writer that I have little interest in revisiting.

I have been unable to find that voice inside of me that lessens the turmoil in my brain...although I have learned many lessons about the turmoil in my brain.

and yeah...I bring my better angels to every fight...

being a reader...more than a writer....

"Readers may be divided into four classes:

Sponges, who absorb all that they read and return it in nearly the same state, only a little dirtied.

Sand-glasses, who retain nothing and are content to get through a book for the sake of getting through the time.

Strain-bags, who retain merely the dregs of what they read.

Mogul diamonds, equally rare and valuable, who profit by what they read, and enable others to profit by it also. "

Samuel Taylor Coleridge
poet, critic (1772-1834)

which one are you?

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot ~ Operation Aborted

Internet Explorer CANNOT open the site
http://katherine-claire.blogspot.com/

Operation Aborted

Last night while hanging out with my Mama I had the time to take on some LOOOOOONG overdue catchup on my Reader. (HUNDREDS of unread postings)  Time and again that Operation Aborted error window popped up and shut down the weblog I was trying to read.  WTF?  It went from worrisome to highly annoying.  But what really ticked me off was when I couldn't access MY OWN site.  Oh geez. (apparently Miz Mel was having the same sorta problems....eh?)

A little troubleshooting, deleting of cookies, temp files and search history brought NO relief.  I finally thought to cruise by the IE user boards...and right there at the top...a whole slew of folks having the same problem.

Seems SiteMeter made some upgrade which IE won't accept. A quick trip to the dashboard to remove the little script with their logo and counter fixed me up just fine.

There were at least a dozen or so others of my faves I couldn't get to last night. Most of them I could access thru Reader...but couldn't comment. Which is probably okay was I wasn't exactly feeling too clever last night.

I am sure eventually Site Meter will fix the bug...and all will be copasetic once again. (and yeah....I know I could have tried another browser....whatever)

The Needs Meme... and something about a corset.

I have absolutely no time…NO TIME…to be sweltering in the dungeon of Mimi the Queen of Meme’s.  So…I’m gonna honor this tag while waiting for chinese food to be delivered by my darling daughter.  (how is it that this child spends five weeks in Mexico…and still won’t dine at a tacqueria?  aye yi yi…)

Her royal highness Queen Mimi swiped this meme from Shannon's Moments of Introspection who got it from Dawn's Daily Life who got it from... I dunno…someone else….the Queen’s unmentionables were pinching too tightly to give us additional details. 

My brain is too fried to figure out why it is called the “Someone get me out of this Corset meme”  (Mimi? little help here…girl?)


The rules: All you have to do is Google your first name with the word needs behind it and post the results. You’re suppose to tag…IF you are the tagging sort…where I live tagging involves a big wall and half a dozen cans of spray paint…sooooo I’ll pass on tagging…

Apparently most of the katherines who need something that Google links to are:  katherine heigl who plays Izzie on “Grey’s Anatomy”…some story line on “The Young and The Restless”  ... a contestant on “American Idol”...and a town called Lake Katherine.

katherine needs some rules to follow
(ah…no…I don’t think so...thankyouverymuch)

katherine needs another coat
(I most certainly do…
I have coats and jackets like other women have shoes)

katherine needs another cocktail
(amen)

katherine needs to learn how to pass notes
(I got sent to the principal in second grade for passing notes… nowadays it must be texting?)

katherine needs prayer.
(you have no idea…I am in desperate need of prayer these days)

katherine needs help making a budget summary.
(actually it is pretty easy to summarize nothing)

katherine needs to win.
(at SOMEthing… while playing for keeps)

katherine needs a first mate.
(as God intended)

katherine needs to think long and hard about this.
(actually that is part of the problem…
I think too hard and too long about too much)

katherine needs to get over herself...
and stop biting the hand that feeds her
(hmmm…gosh…I hope if there was a hand…I wouldn’t bite it….)

katherine updated katherine’s needs.
(actually I recently did just do exactly that)

What katherine needs more than anything else is a friend.
(a true friend who can be trusted)

katherine needs to get off the morphine.
(this katherine is violently allergic to that stuff)

katherine needs to get it together.
(workin’ on this one….really I am)

katherine needs help with building benches, boardwalks, bridges and more.
(curious….there might actually be something to this....)

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot ~ random flying thoughts

why is it that no matter what airport I am in...no matter what airline I am flying....no matter where I am flying to or arriving from...my gate is ALWAYS the very last one at the end of a very very long terminal.
*******************************************************************************
Adding chopped onion and green bell pepper to ketchup does NOT make salsa.
*******************************************************************************
How can the bar at Detroit Airport be out of Jack???*******************************************************************************
"y'all ain't from around here are ya?" (with an amused glance at my attire)  is only slightly less annoying than  "you must be one of them that's come from California" (which is accompanied by a disapproving sneer)
*******************************************************************************
Since when did the airline start charging extra for exit row, aisle, and window seats? 
*******************************************************************************
Do you think not serving those little bags of peanuts has been detrimental to the peanut industry? *******************************************************************************
I would pay the five dollars for the meals the airline use to served.  I am NOT paying five dollars for stale packaged crackers, fake cheese, a mushy apple, and a mass produced cookie.
******************************************************************************* Lately when I get on an airplane...I think Oceanic Flight 815....I calculate if I am in the nose or tail section....and I look around at the other passengers wondering..."what if.....??" 
*******************************************************************************
Me: excuse me....(tired but friendly, apologetic smile)...but...um...I believe you are in my seat.  (passengers packed in the aisle behind me collide into each other as they come to a screeching halt.)

GQ guy: oh...am I?  are you sure? (smiling sweetly)

Me: pretty much 
(readjusting my backpack which weighs only slightly more than my checked baggage...smile fades from apologetic to annoyed)

GQ guy (just sits there...smirking)

Me: raising my bordering pass between two fingers and raising my eyebrows simultaneously.

Stewardess (Flight Attendant):  is there a problem?
(she glares at me...giving me the glare for impeding the forward motion of other passengers...GQ Guy gets a big sweet smile....)

Me: (stepping between the seats and out of the aisle...eye brows still raised....handing her my boarding pass.)

GQ guy: (still smiling) ...
I would prefer to sit on the aisle.
would that be all right with everyone?

Stewardess (Flight Attendant): to GQ Guy...
"may I see your boarding pass?...you're in the center seat."
(exasperation replaces big sweet smile)

GQ guy: well yes...but I really would prefer the aisle...can you trade us?  (he beams a three hundred watt smile at the flight attendant...I have become invisible to him....)

Stewardess (Flight Attendant):  to Me
"would you be willing to sit someplace else?"

Me:  First Class? (conspiracle tilt of the head)

Stewardess (Flight Attendant): (slowly smiling)....sure. c'mon...
excuse us please...excuse us...(working her way back up the aisle.)

GQ Guy:  hey..wait...I'll move....(starting to stand up)

Me:  (smiling now....little shrug of the shoulders....)
"no really....that aisle seat is all yours."

(too bad it was a short flight and not the three hour leg of the trip!)

a long life...well lived.

When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced.
Live you life in a manner so that when you die...
the world cries...
and you rejoice.
--Native American Proverb

Early yesterday morning...in a restful sleep...my dear Grandfather "Papa" gently passed on.   Born in 1915, he was one of 13 children. (yeah...if you do the math he was 93 years old). He was married to my Gramma for over 67 years, and they had four children...my Momma being the oldest.  I am the third of thirteen grandchildren...and my daughter Rhiannon is the oldest of twelve great-grands.
 
Papa met his death on his own terms.  Until a couple months ago, he drove himself...did laundry and cooking....and took all our money at poker. Following a series of heart attacks he chose to let his body take its own course.

I am sitting here in San Jose Airport in the middle of the night...waiting for the first flight out to Indiana.  I go to represent my Momma...and the California contingent.  I go to celebrate his life....but I go with a heavy heart.  It was difficult to leave my Momma...in the midst of her own battles...even with the support of my step dad and my sister. She has kept her secret for quite a while now...but her absence at this time will totally out her.

I have so many memories of my Papa.  It's a pretty good bet I'll  write some more later. 

The death of someone we know always reminds us that we are still alive...perhaps for some purpose which we ought to re-examine.
~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook

this week's vocabulary list

pulmonary

oncology

gastroenterology

urology

gynecology

cardiology

rheumatology

endocrinology

for the past week my Mama has been battling on several fronts...a team of no fewer than 15 doctors have run her through a battery of tests to figure out the myriad of causes resulting in a whole slew of attacks that converged on her tiny frame all at the same time. 

have I ever mentioned how much I hate hanging out in hospitals ?
especially ones with NO internet access????

wordless wednesday ~ flores encantadoras dos

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot ~ the Supremes

Most of us Americans can name the President (no offense to ILTV and david) ...some of you can name your Congressmen...and maybe even your Representative.  But how many of us can name the Justices of the Supreme Court who sit in these seats?

We tend to pay more attention to the executive and legislative branches of our government...probably because we vote for them....however the judicial branch has much greater responsibility and power.

Last week the Supreme Court of the United States ruled on several high profile cases. One of their decisions I accepted with raised eyebrows and a nod of agreement. Another one caused me to look up and exclaim..."are they OUT of their e-phn minds?"

BOTH decisions surprised me. 
If I had bets placed...I would have lost big time.
In both cases I think the Supremes should allow the States to define their individual laws.

 

the Supremes for the most part rule on some other court's previous decision.  They almost never hear a case of their own. 

I am an emphatic proponent of States' rights.

And I can not beLIEVE I can only name five of the nine justices off the top of my head.  That is embarrassing....
(see below....you gotta love Google)

The first case....in a 5-4 decision...determined the handgun ban in Washington DC was unconstitutional.

(this is the one I agree with...while not a direct descendant of Charleton Heston...I do want the right to have a gun...and in this case...when put up against the second amendment, the DC handgun ban did indeed strike me as unconstitutional.)

This decision is the FIRST TIME the second amendment has been legally defined since it was written by our founding fathers some 217 years ago.  Whoa.

Washington DC has had this handgun banning law in place for over 30 years...who knew?  I wonder how many other states have this sort of law?  Not California.

I always get a little confused by the status of DC...they are for the most part like a state...but they don't get a star on the flag...cause the Capitol belongs to all of us?  Is that how it works?  So...then...what is the deal with Puerto Rico?

The second decision was also 5-4...and one I completely disagree with on a personal level.  The Supremes ruled that states can mandate the death penalty for crimes such as "treason, espionage, terrorism, and drug kingpin activity, which are offenses against the state," and as you all know, states have the option of the death penalty for murder....however "As it relates to crimes against individuals, the death penalty should not be expanded to instances where the victim's life was not taken."

Which in this case means... a convicted child rapist can not be given the death penalty unless they actually kill their victim. Personally I think all child molesters should be taken out into the street and suffer a long, slow, tortuous death. For a child rapist there is no such thing as too much pain and suffering.

While it was Louisiana's law that was struck down by the higher court...other states had similar laws ( Montana, South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Texas). You may remember in 1977 the Supremes ruled that the death penalty could not be used as punishment against an adult woman.

While these two cases are significant in their own right...what these decisions really mean to me is much more far reaching. The Supreme Court will uphold the states' option to choose the death penalty for the taking of a life. And the rights of the individual as defined by the constitution are paramount.

(can you name which supreme is on the court steps??)

Chief Justice
John Roberts ~ 53 years old  from Maryland
appointed by GW Bush ~ seated in 2005

Associate Justices
John Stevens ~ 88 years old from Illinois
appointed by Ford  ~ seated in 1975

Antonin Scalia  ~ 72 years old from Virginia
appointed by Reagan ~ seated in 1986

Anthony Kennedy ~ 71 years old from California
appointed by Reagan ~ seated in 1988

David Souter ~ 68 years old from New Hampshire
appointed by GHW Bush ~ seated in 1990

Clarence Thomas ~ 60 years old from Georgia
appointed by GHW Bush ~ seated in 1991

Ruth Bader Ginsburg ~ 75 years old from New York
appointed by Clinton ~ seated in 1993

Steven Breyer ~ 69 years old from Massachusetts
appointed by Clinton ~ seated in 1994

Samuel Anthony Alito ~ 58 years old from New Jersey
appointed by  GW Bush ~ seated in 2006

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Far too many things have gotten to me lately.
Upset me.
Angered me.
Incensed me.
Outraged me.
Incredulated me.

Most of the stuff I can do nothing about...
but still....it is getting to me.

I realize I have very little personal bandwidth available. I got a lot going on.  Three people whom I love very dearly are lined up on the tarmac getting ready to take off into the next life.  I can't find the type of job that ignites my interest...truth of the matter, I don't even know what it would be.  Someone I care about has gotten so caught up in their hurt...and their fear of hurt....that they have become detrimental.  And while I encouraged and enabled them to go...both my girls are immersing themselves in the language and culture of Mexico....for FIVE weeks. 

I need to vent every now and then...well...maybe more often than that. For the next few weeks...randomly...off and on...I'm gonna use this little weblog as an outlet for my outrage and create a series of posts I fondly think of as:

               "What-The-Fuck? Thursday"

Not wanting to constantly offend my gentle readers (and 'cause WTF strikes me as wimpy) ...I oh-so-cleverly revert to pilot-speak:

                       Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

the color scheme is no accident...or Independence Day theme...a lot of what is ticking me off has to do with the country, our politics and the presidential elections....et cetera.

My readers are a vastly different lot...and rather intelligent.
Perhaps it will get interesting...

(I just know The Teamster read the title and thought: "cool....if I buy her a Jack or two....we can go dancing this weekend..." )

wordless wednesday ~ flores encantadoras

manic monday with mo ~ pride

Yesterday we headed to San Francisco to meet up with some friends to hike around Golden Gate Park. Coincidentally...it was also one of the country's largest Gay Pride celebrations.

We were in the area of the parade several hours before the festivities ....just as the booths were starting to set up. I was curious to note how many vendors had special marketing collateral specifically for the event.

Every company had picked up on the rainbow theme...but these two caught my eye as being rather clever. While I wish we had been able to stay longer ....prior obligations beckoned us to the other end of town.

other manic monday minions are mentioned at Mo's

photo hunting ~ bright

Last Sunday, after taking Lile home to Lake Tahoe....we took the long way through the back roads of Highway 4. Dropping into the valley we saw this amazing sunset. Although beautiful...it was created by the dense smoke from the many wild fires burning in this part of California. While the sunset was stunning over this farmstead...it reminds me of the devastation elsewhere....

(the photograph is totally untouched and un"shopped"...it portrays exactly how the sun looks thru the blanket of smoke that hovers everywhere)

It has been quite a while since I participated in Tennessee Chick's Saturday Photo Hunt. I have looking at this picture for the past few days....and thought it would be fit this week's theme of "Bright." Take a moment to visit some of her other photo hunters...

The Alpha Bitch

This is Lile
(pronounced lil eee)
She is on summer visitation with her Dad…
and went camping with us for a few days.

Ten years old….golden and husky mix…just about the sweetest puppy you’d ever want to know…

Never resting protector from raccoons, squirrels, deer, steller jays, and rattlesnakes…

Places to Go Things to See People to Meet

Dating in your forties has some distinct advantages.

One benefit is that you get to go lots of really interesting places and meet all kinds of new people. Here is a brief synopsis of one couple’s past week. It works better with charts and string lines…but oh well…just read slowly.

Boyfriend goes with Girlfriend to help her daughter move (following daughter’s six week nightingale tour with great grandpa) with the aid of Girlfriend’s ex-husband, Girlfriend’s mother and daughter’s half brother. Girlfriend and ex-husband last met at daughter’s college graduation. Ex-husband’s current wife doesn’t attend…but is helpful and supportive from 400 miles away. Girlfriend walks away laughing at the sight of ex-husband and Boyfriend lying down next to each other. (okay…okay…they were on the floor peering under the washer discussing the best way to disconnect…but still….) At the end of the day ex-husband and father of Girlfriend’s daughter is highly appreciative of Boyfriend’s packing and truck driving abilities. Even dinner was an enjoyable event.

Boyfriend attends Girlfriend’s stepson’s high school graduation with assorted members of Girlfriend's family....Girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend’s family…as well as family of Girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend’s deceased wife. Following ceremony they also attend graduation party at ex-boyfriend’s home where Girlfriend use to live. Girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend’s current girlfriend is an old friend. She wants to talk about the whacked-girlfriend in between, against whom we all have a TRO. Boyfriend is scrutinized by Girlfriend’s stepson’s deceased mother’s family. Boyfriend spends the better part of two hours hangin’ with Girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend’s brother looking at Harleys and talkin’ aftermarket upgrades. All may be riding together to Hollister for the 4th.

Girlfriend accompanies Boyfriend to his stepson’s college graduation festivities. Girlfriend gets to hang with both of boyfriend’s second-ex-wife’s ex-husbands and her current boyfriend at the home of the second-ex-wife’s first husband (father of the graduate) and his current wife. Families of Boyfriend, his second-ex-wife and her first-ex-husband are all represented. Girlfriend of Boyfriend…and boyfriend of second-ex-wife are too far down the food chain to warrant a ticket to the ceremony. So…Girlfriend hangs with Boyfriend’s younger Airforce son (who flew in just for the weekend) for a few hours...all over town. Girlfriend’s daughter (see above) graduated from the same university a couple years ago. All families are sweetly friendly and overly welcoming to Girlfriend in a manner meant to covey to Boyfriend that he is still a beloved member of their family. Girlfriend enters the twilight zone.

Boyfriend, Boyfriend’s father, and Boyfriend’s sons do manly activities for Fathers’ Day. Girlfriend hangs out with Boyfriend’s mother…helping her with her blog….and reviewing the 200 plus photographs that Girlfriend took at the wedding of Boyfriend’s older son and new daughter-in-law. (that was the week before)

Girlfriend and Boyfriend take Boyfriend’s dog from Boyfriend’s second ex-wife for a few days camping in the Redwoods.

Big Basin Redwoods.
Three Days.

No cellphone coverage.
No internet access.
No ex’s.
No Jerry Springer.

Just the Twilight Zone.