Virginia HOT And HUMID (And Chief Justice Robert's Graduation Speech)

Morning In Virginia

 Morning With Coco

It's 7:40 and my son in law, Drew and I are the only ones up, as the girls are all still sleeping.  The windows are covered with moisture because the humidity is so high.  You don't even want to go outside around here during the day as the temperatures are in the high 90's as is the humidity.  It makes me appreciate the warm Chautuauqua weather (in the 80's).

We left for Bristow yesterday around 8:30 and had rain the first part of our drive but as we got farther east and south, it cleared up nicely.  It was an easy drive and took us a bit longer than the usual seven hours as we had to stop a couple of times for construction work on the backroads.  The longest was entering Berkeley Springs, WV, where we waited for at least 10 minutes for the one lane to open to traffic from our direction.  We stopped for breakfast and lunch at Mickey D's and once at our favorite Shell station along with a bakery, garden shop and produce market.  For New Yorkers, gas was only $2.03 a gallon compared to our $2.45.  Needless to say, I will fill up tomorrow on our way home to the lake.

The Gang's All Here

We are here mostly to pick up our granddaughter Halle who is recovering from an operation on her foot and will be staying with us this next week  She seems to be doing well.  When we arrived yesterday, we could not get anyone to answer the door so we had to call Jill and get the code to their garage.  Everyone was in their rooms, either working out or napping so they did not hear the door bell.  Jill and Halle walked in just after we brought in our bags.  It was great to see them since the last time we were together was Christmas.  Hayden, a junior,  is working at Coldstone and was just named the captain of her cross country team, exciting news for her.  She is a hard worker, runs mostly in the evening because of the heat.

All six of us sat down in the living room and got caught up on each other's lives.  Jill got out the wine and cheese and crackers and we just enjoyed the late afternoon, listening to the girls tell us about their lives.  They both are doing well.  Jill and Drew are both busy with work, in fact, Drew is off to Nigeria today for a week for business.  I don't envy him.

Jill made a tasty shrimp dinner with pesto.  We were all hungry so we did not linger, finishing up quickly.  After dinner, because Evie had bought some peaches at the fruit stand, I wanted cut peaches on ice cream for dessert.  So Hayden, almost 16, volunteered to drive to the nearest store.  We picked up two half gallons, one vanilla, the other peanut butter and chocolate, Hayden's Dad's favorite.

Not A Dog's Life

After the ice cream and peaches, Jill and I took the two dogs out for a walk, in the still warm and humid evening but it felt good to get outside.  It was almost 10:00 by the time we got back, and we were all tired, ready for bed except for Hayden, who was ready to get her friend and go for a run. What dedication.

I am attaching an excerpt from Chief Justice John Robert's Graduation Speech to his son's 9th-grade class.  It shows a compassionate and thoughtful side of a guy who is often thought of as an arch conservative.  It gives me hope.

"Now the commencement speakers will typically also wish you good luck and extend good wishes to you. I will not do that, and I’ll tell you why. From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of justice. I hope that you will suffer betrayal because that will teach you the importance of loyalty. Sorry to say, but I hope you will be lonely from time to time so that you don’t take friends for granted. I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either. And when you lose, as you will from time to time, I hope every now and then, your opponent will gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to understand the importance of sportsmanship. I hope you’ll be ignored so you know the importance of listening to others, and I hope you will have just enough pain to learn compassion. Whether I wish these things or not, they’re going to happen. And whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortunes.

Enough advice. I would like to end by reading some important lyrics. I cited the Greek philosopher Socrates earlier. These lyrics are from the great American philosopher, Bob Dylan. They’re almost 50 years old. He wrote them for his son, Jesse, who he was missing while he was on tour. It lists the hopes that a parent might have for a son and for a daughter. They’re also good goals for a son and a daughter. The wishes are beautiful, they’re timeless. They’re universal. They’re good and true, except for one: It is the wish that gives the song its title and its refrain. That wish is a parent’s lament. It’s not a good wish. So these are the lyrics from Forever Young by Bob Dylan:

May God bless you and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
And may you stay forever young

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
And may you stay forever young

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung
And may you stay forever young

Thank you."