UCR's Commencement, Father's Day and a party

This morning we went to Lindsay's graduation at UCR. Drew and Mindy, Scotty and B, Paige, Kyle and I were there for the celebration. It was hot and sunny, but as graduation ceremonies go, I thought it was a pretty good one. The keynote speaker said "nukular" twice in his speech, but he quoted Barak Obama and Bill Clinton, so we forgave him. I was doing pretty well until the Chancellor mentioned that it was Father's Day. I kind of puddled up at that point. Yep, Jim should have been there. I'm so sorry he wasn't.

But it was a happy day and Lindsay was quite pleased and proud. Many photos were taken. Afterward, we headed over to Ken and Sherri's for our celebration brunch. I'm happy to say that the quiches turned out tres yummy, especially the shrimp quiche. The fruit salad was just a fruit salad but it was reeeeally good. After a little while Bill and Virginia showed up. After everyone ate we went out to the patio. The kids (Kids, ha! C'mon, they're adults now!) swam, while Bill and I uked, Ken played guitar and Virginia beaded. After a while Sherri's girls, the grandkids, Sherri's parents, and some friends showed up. It turned into a very nice, very active party. We had a great time. It was fun playing with Ken and Bill. That's a new mix! We played for most of the afternoon.

Bill and Virginia went home and I left shortly after. Even though we were in the shade on Ken's patio I was feeling a bit baked. I dropped off the leftover food (we'll be eating quiche for a week!) at home and then went to see Dad. I found him near the nurses station yelling at the doctor that had just left. He was pulling at his seat belt and yelling that he wanted to get out of there. Hoo boy. I quickly said, "Happy Father's Day!" and kind of diffused his anger, for a short time anyway. When he started to get agitated again I told him I was going out to my car to get my uke and that I'd play some music for him. I could see he really needed to be redirected. When I got back with the uke I wheeled him into the dining room and sat at a table and played and sang for him. He was still kind of tweaky but he stayed with it. I was there for about an hour and a half. I'm pretty sure that after I left he went right back to yelling at people. Oh well.

A good day. Congratulations, Lindsay and Paige!