Jabberwocky for 2004 June 20

One of the people who saw the cougar was Victor Lasseter, who was my thesis advisor. He is retired now, but still very active with riding his bike. I would not want to be the kittycat who tangled with him.

Dr. Lasseter is one of the people who are under the delusion that American literature is the best kind. Bless his heart, I read Moby Dick and Walden for him.

Rachel came walking down the aisle at Royce Hall, and I sat and bawled. My BABY, graduating from UCLA!

I was so happy, but I was sad too. Most of the students had two parents there, and a lot of them even had four! Rachel, as usual, had me. All these years, I've gone alone to concerts, plays, games, graduations, Susie's wedding. It bites, and sometimes I've felt like giving up, but I couldn't because I had three wonderful kids to raise.

In a way, we've cobbled together some "family." Rachel's friends Chris, Jennifer, and Becca came, and also Jen's parents, the Vorells, as well as her old roommate, Christina. So it wasn't like she didn't have a crowd. I took Chris and Becca out to dinner at the Grand Panda on the way home. As usual, our eyes were bigger than our stomachs, so Chris had to take home a bunch of styrofoam boxes. My fortune cookie said I would have a summer full of comfort and material security. I'd sure like to know whan that will be!

I crawled out of bed -- I didn't want to-- and went to Sacrament Meeting. Sarah Amundsen spoke about her father, and Bishop Nations spoke about lessons he's learned from being a father. They were both excellent talks, and the choir sang "Be Still My Soul." That's the song I want for the opening hymn at my funeral.

I made it through the meeting without a meltdown, though afterwards Doris Jackman and I got a little bit sentimental as we remembered our fathers.

After church I went over to visit Dalton in the rest home. He was doing well and seemed stronger; he dictated a very sentimental note to Rosalie and I wrote it down for him.