The Dynamic Duo

UltraDad and I just returned home from a whirwind 5-6 days, which included some 6 hour drives to and from Boise, some flights of varying length to and from Nashville and a very exciting graduation from the prestigious and picturesque Vanderbilt School of Law. If I wasn’t buried in homework that I didn’t complete in Nashville, despite good intentions, I would write at length, and plan to do just that in a week or so. What I will tell you now was that all travel plans and sleeping arrangements worked out, more or less. Johnny’s Law School graduation, occurred at the odd (anyway, it seemed to me an odd time to schedule a college graduation) hour of 10:30 A.M. on a Friday. Attending from (way) out of state were Aunt Debi (Panther) Ryder from Emmett, Idaho; James P. McDonald from Salt Lake City, Utah; Ultramom from Carlin, Nevada, and UltraDad from Ruby Valley, Nevada. The girls had a motel room downtown, while the guys slept on various blow-up beds and the recliner (Jim) in Johnny’s appartment. Besides the headliner graduation, events included a tour of Vanderbilt Law Building and grounds, a trip to the bookstore so UltraMom could obtain her own Vanderbilt sweatshirt and bumper sticker and replacement Vanderbilt frisbee (cause Rowdy broke her other one; just ask Jim), bowling, and 45 holes of miniature golf. We spent a good half day at the Country Music Hall of Fame, and several hours at The Hermitage, former home of former president Andrew Jackson. We took a lovely drive on the Natchez Trace and had some fantastic BBQ and some not too bad Cajun Pepperoni Pizza. Oh, and of course we saw the Parthenon. 
I know I had a great time, though Jim maintained that trying to keep track of me, Panther and UltraDad was like trying to herd 300 cats. I must admit, I did try to follow the wrong group of people on the way to the graduation, but only once or twice. On the whole, I think the cat analogy a faulty one.
After the ‘herdable cats’ left, Jim and his soon-to-be-attorney brother loaded up a pull-behind-Johnny’s-Taurus trailor with the motorcycle and the rest of Johnny’s earthly belongings. Tomorrow Jim flies home and Johnny starts his long drive back to Boise where he will begin his 2-year stint of working for an Idaho Supreme Court Judge. Tomorrow UltraDad heads back to work, and UltraMom heads back to work and school.
But today, Johnny, you should take a few minutes to bask in the pride of your great accomplishment. That’s what I’m doing, anyway. I’m so proud of you, honey. Drive safely.

UltraMom

Ready to get that law school diploma. As the graduates walked by, I heard a little girl give voice to what all of us were secretly thinking: “Their hats look like mushrooms.”

Johnny with two of his friends and fellow graduates:Mark Webster, his housemate, and Chris Jaeger (sp?). Johnny had already ditched his hot, uncomfortable graduation regalia.

The family. Don’t the guys look spiffy?

Johnny with one of his very favorite aunts, and his very favorite mom.

The bombastic Moot Court team of John McDonald and Scott Goldman. Also pictured is Scott’s wife (name escapes me), who graduated from Vanderbilt Medical School on the same day her husband graduated with a law degree, and from what I hear was the star member of the group’s trivia team. The team had a cool name, but it too is no longer in memory cell retrieval range.

The proof is in the pudding....er the diploma.