Special Sunday

Woke up early, ready to go! Amazing what a little sleep will do for you. I had soft-boiled eggs and coffee for breakfast and then got dressed. Main focus today is Carla's graduation, of course, but I don't have to be at their house until 11:45, so I do have a small window for more outside work.

Went to Home Depot and picked up 4 containers of lavender and a big bag of potting soil. I planted two between the Shaolin monk and the patio. Two more went at the North end of the garden against the back of the house. After this Spring's bumper crop of hyacinths and their overpowering aromas, I am experimenting with smell in the garden this year. BTW, Luanne corrected me (and I appreciate it!) because I keep calling them "grape hyacinths" when in fact, what I have are just hyacinths. Then I spread the last three bags of mulch. I think I still need 3 more bags (for a total of 21 bags) one more for St. Francis' garden and two for summer touch-ups. Now, time to clean up everything and get ready.

Put away the garden tools and trash, shaved and showered and then headed for Jake and Carla's. Got there right on time! We left, but made a quick stop at Hines Park for some pictures. When we reviewed them later on Jake's TV, I was struck by how much bigger I am than Carla and her Mom. It looked like those photos you see sometimes: "World's Tallest Man found living in Xanpangi, China" and they pose him next to an ordinary person.

Now onto Eastern Michigan University. Traffic going in was terrible once we got close. Half the Class graduated in the morning, so all those people were trying to leave as we were all trying to get in. But we finally made it to a good parking spot and walked in. Carla had to depart, so the rest of us looked for a good seat. We found one almost even with the podium. Then we waited to try and spot Carla (they were not seated alphabetically) in the midst of what we estimated was 1,000 other kids in black gowns and caps.

She's just too darn short! Several times we thought we spotted her but she was almost directly diagonally at the other end of the auditorium and thus, a little hard to be sure. (Note to self: Next time take the binoculars, dummy!) This was a LOT like "Where's Waldo" which I was never good at, either!

The speakers were good (and brief), plenty of pomp and circumstance, and the University orchestra was excellent. And in a touching, if tragic, moment that is probably being repeated in Universities across America, one student who should have graduated today was given his degree posthumously, since he was killed in December in Iraq.

So, when they were coming up and getting their diplomas, we finally saw Carla, who was looking everywhere for us. Everywhere, but where we were! Regardless, she got her degree and we got to see it.

We went outside to our predetermined meeting place and waited, and waited and waited for her. Her Mom even went back in several times looking for her (I was half afraid we'd lose her, too!) But, they had to exit through another door and she finally showed up, beaming.

Leaving was much easier and we got back to Jake's around 4:30 PM. Carla's Mom was going to make Carla her fried chicken, so they went to the store for the fixin's. Now, this was to be the fried chicken of Carla's youth, so I was interested in how she did it. We exchanged story's of our Mother's cooking we can't somehow duplicate (me and my Mom's meat loaf, Jake and his Mom's bread pudding and Carla and her Mom's fried chicken) while waiting for dinner.

Dinner's on! Excellent!!! And, here's the weird part. Long time readers may remember me soaking my chicken in buttermilk for two hours, patting it dry, dipping the pieces in eggs and hot sauce, then seasoned flour. Carla's Mom just washed the chicken, seasoned it with pepper, Lawry's seasoned salt and garlic powder, then shook it in a bag of plain flour and fried it in oil. And, it was great! I may have to rethink this gourmet stuff.

After eating, I said my goodbyes and headed home to wash the last load of laundry before starting the work week. Got home just before 8:00 PM. I checked the caller id and voicemail. Melissa called to say they did put their house on the market and were leaving mid-week for South Carolina for 10 days. I called Luanne back and filled her in on the graduation festivities. She also had good news! The heat ducts are in so the sub-floor can be put in the kitchen and they can finally get to use their stove again.

I hung up my clothes, watched some TV and went to bed at 10:30 PM.