My grandmother came to town and she took me out to my favorite bookstore, got me three new books and a a Starbucks refresher. I am reading one the books that she bought me. It is a great book about a gay guy who is have family issues and his friend just got very cute. The book is called The Dangerous Art of Blending In. I highly recommend it. My family and i then went to out to dinner to celebrate my grandmother coming to town.i had so much fun and i would love to do it again.

Today I went and marched in the Pride Parade downtown. My friend and I held up a balloon Jesus with pride flag acrossed his chest. We walked for two hours and i had so much fun. I loved seeing all the pride shirts and signs. They made me very happy.My friend, Abby, is the one who got me into all my pride. She is moving at the end of the summer and i don’t know what i am going to do without her. If you haven’t been to the pride parade then i highly recommend going next year and don’t forget your rainbows.

This year my brother, Dan, graduated from high school. I am so excited for him. He is going to University of Alabama. I am going to miss him a lot. So we went to his graduation. And before that we went to a delicious restaurant. The graduation itself was long and boring. There are a lot of kids in his grade. But we had fun seeing walk across the stage.

The super secret questionnaire was the only new element of this well visit. You were asked to complete a survey to be discussed with Dr. Shipley and not necessarily shared with me. This questionnaire asked interesting questions about whether we text while we drive, whether we drink to much, etc. It also asks if you have had sex or tried drugs.

You are definitely growing up!!

I love you and I love being an important part of your growing up!
Mama

You did absolutely great in front of an audience! And you’ve done it even better many other times. I could not be more proud of how hard you worked over the past 7 months on this song – stretching your fingers, working on synchronizing difficult hand rhythms, persisting through the struggle. This was the last recital that you would perform with Madey. Treasured times for sure.

I signed up to chaperone the stream study, and you signed me up to also do the Seabreeze trip. I playfully complained, but deep down, I was so honored that you wanted me to be at both trips. I love getting to know the friends you will be growing up with through high school graduation – and their parents. I love supporting you in this school world that I have little access to.

I pretty much just love being with you.

Highlights from May? So many fun times packed into a month…

A visit from Grandma Judy and Judi J to watch a Dan lacrosse game.
Gospel Choir coffee hour that you and Dan helped me pull off… and everyone had a ball!
Your Dad walked graduation for his DNP.
My graduate student Rachel earned her PhD.
Lilac festival with Dan – it hailed and the sun came out and it hailed and the sun came out and… You made a hand sculpture, and Dan had a crazy pork sandwich. We had an awesome time!
Cooking adventures with Madey
And various other fun times…

National Park #3 – The Dry Tortugas… the Florida Key that is off to the SW of Key West by 67 miles (3 hour relatively rough ferry ride). Paradise with history. A migratory stop for birds. A fort that was never used. Incredible coral. All through the eyes of a 10 year old.

In Key West before we boarded:

Enroute on the Jefferson Ferry:

First National Park – Biscayne. We sailed with Captain Hans and 4 other crew members out to Boca Chita Key. The blue rafts that you see in one of the pictures were transport for Cuban refugees – so powerful to see the determination in the wood and styrofoam. Highlights of the day were definitely the mangroves, coconuts, and the interesting birds!