2003-05-30 - 9:35 p.m.

Another Day

I had the day off today.  It's about time.  And, as usual, instead of getting a lot done I pretty much collapsed.  I got up late.  Ate lunch.  Wrote some emails.  Did laundry.  I went to a movie with Kay.  We saw Bruce Almighty.  It was funny.  Not a movie I wanted to see, but Finding Nemo was sold out.

Also, this past weekend I went to Bylthe's high school graduation.  She is Dorothy's daughter and I have known her since she was about 8 years old.  I think the world of her and her brother Trevor.  This was the best graduation ceremony I have ever attended.  It was held at the Fox Theater in Atlanta.  No other class has ever held a graduation ceremony there before.  I loved it.  Usually these things happen in an auditorium or a gym or on a football field.  They are usually cramped and uncomfortable and boring.  You just go so you can enjoy seeing that one person you know step on stage and pick up a blank document they pretend is a diploma.

But at the Fox it was an event.  I walked around the place, just poked around and looked at stuff, remembered old times.  It is a beautiful building. I have written about it before.  Dorothy's family is insane so I just met up with them for a while and then walked away for a while.

All during the ceremony people filed in nearly filling up the place.  Blythe went to a big high school, what they call a magnet school, for smart, gifted, talented students from all over the place.  The Superintendent said that 98% of the graduating class would be going on to some sort of higher education.  That is a very, very high percentage.  But that is the sort of school it is.

The valedictorian was a real crowd pleaser.  He was a tall, gangly white kid with a big, bushy blond afro. When they announced his name the place went wild.  His speech was an ambling and desultory.  He began by saying that he considered making his speech an expose of the evils of the Bush administration but decided that not everyone would like to hear that.  Then he decided that the theme of his valedictorian speech would be funk.  And so it was.

This was not a standard, dignified ceremony.  I wonder if there is any such thing any more.  As the names were called it was pretty predictable.  When a name like Adam Harrison was called there was a polite clapping. But when a name like Shaquesha Molisha Broadnax was called a screeching would begin throughout the theater.  There would be hollering and woofing.

The day before the graduation Blythe, Trevor, their dad, his new wife and I went to the Braves game.  I have not been to Turner Field before.  It was nice.  We were on the Lexus level.  From the time we got on the shuttle bus to the time we returned home we were assaulted by no less that 10,000 ads.  But the day was beautiful, it was good to be outside.  The Braves beat the Mets all to hell.  The crowd was interesting to watch.  And Trevor talked non stop (as he does).  After the game we went to dinner downtown.  Dorothy came along for that.  Poor Blythe did not want to do any of this.  She was tired after going to a graduation party. She feels board when she has to hang out with her dad and his new wife.  She was stuck at a baseball game she didn't want to go to.  But she was nice. They did it all to celebrate her graduation.

And she wanted me to go to act as a buffer between her dad, her step mom and everybody else.  Blythe and Dorothy consider me to be some sort of good luck charm.  Usually when I am around everyone behaves himself.  It is like having your minister over.  I had to yank Trevor's chain a few times.  He is a bully to his family.  Not when I'm there.

And now the weather report.  I still cannot believe how incredibly great the weather has been lately.  It has been cool and pleasant and sunny and bright.  It has been a good mood elevator.  Today, when Kay and I came out of the movie theater and it was still light outside it was like a little treat.  She said it was like she always remembered Georgia at this time of year.

Jimmy
 
 
 
 

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