Hello Goodbye, Keefe

Rose shocked me this morning. She actually called and said she would be picking me up earlier than planned, around 12:30...then really did it. That put me in a bit of a bind. I slept in because I didn't think we were leaving until 1-1:30. I rushed the banana muffins I made for an early Father's Day present and got everything I needed for the trip down to Cape May County together for our brother Keefe's high school graduation. The muffins had just come out of the oven when Rose called and said she was downstairs and ready to go!

The trip going down there was fairly uneventful. It was just Rose, her 1-year-old son Khai, and me. Rose's boyfriend Craig had to work at the last minute. Khai slept the whole way down while we talked about our families and my decision to concentrate on writing and starting my own business this summer.

Mom had cold cuts, sandwich fixings, rolls, wraps, and flat bread out for us when we arrived. Anny appeared with her son Skylar and her new boyfriend Patrick shortly after. The little boys played with the toys their grandparents had out for them and Sky's new Build-a-Bear monkey Mr. Monkey.

I chatted with Dad while the kids had fun and their mothers kept an eye on them. Dad was in a good mood, but his health wasn't. He was walking on a cane. Apparently, he finally went to Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital in Cape May Court House a few days ago to have his heart checked out. They had to run a camera up arteries in his leg. On one hand, the camera found that his heart was fine. It's his blood pressure (and having a high-stress commercial fishing job for 40 years) that's causing all his pain. On the other hand, the procedure means he can't lean on the leg or carry anything heavy for five days.

We all finally headed out to Lower Cape May Regional High School around quarter of 4...and hit a long line of traffic. While Lower has grown over the years, their graduation, alas, remains as unorganized as ever. No matter how big they've gotten, they've never had enough parking for school events, or even for kids who drive there. This is a major problem. They're on Route 9 in Erma, literally in the middle of nowhere. We all ended up parking in the junior high school's soccer/field hockey field!

It was a nice day when we headed for Lower's Football field. The rain we had briefly coming down held off. It was windy and cool for this time of the year, probably in the mid-upper 70s. (Felt much nicer than my graduation, when it was hot and humid all day, and there were brief showers.) We met Keefe's girlfriend Vicki, her mother Missy, and Anny and her boys in front of the bleachers. That was the only place we could fit. Keefe is a part of the largest graduating class in Lower's history, over 1,000 kids. Not to mention, this is Lower's 50th anniversary and 50th graduating class. The huge metal bleachers were elbow-to-elbow packed!

(Thank goodness it didn't rain while we were down there. If it had rained, they would have had to move the ceremony to the auditorium. Lower has a larger auditorium than it did when I went there, but it's still not big enough for all those people. Rose and I probably wouldn't have gone.)

As it was, Rose ended up leaving early. Khai just did not like the crowds. His father took him to a Phillies game last night, and he was tired and fussy. The rest of us stayed for the surprisingly short one-and-a-half hour ceremony. I expected the speeches to be much longer and for more people to talk. Maybe they were worried about the threatened storms. Four kids (the class president, vice president, valedictorian, and salutatorian) and two administrators (head administrator and principal) gave short speeches, then the kids got their diplomas. (I liked the Class Vice President's farewell speech that made references to The Beatles' "Hello Goodbye.") Between Dad's bad leg and Skylar, we didn't stay for the newly graduated students throwing their hats in the air.

We got home fairly quickly. Dad texted Keefe as we left Lower to tell him that he'd "have a cold one" waiting for him when he got in. He then joked that, with a promise like that, Keefe would beat us home! Ironically, Keefe, Missy, and Vicki arrived with Dad's truck at exactly the same time we pulled in. Rose and Khai were already there; Anny and her boys showed up a few minutes later.

We spent another hour or two having cake and watching Keefe and Dad open cards. Keefe is impossible to shop for. Like I said, what do you buy an 18-year-old boy who has everything and is joining the military? Everyone else besides me gave him money. He loved my iTunes card. "I'll get some use outta this," he said to me with a grin.

Rose and I had a harder time riding home. For one thing, it rained off-and-on, though not too hard. Mostly, though, Khai just wouldn't settle down. Every time we thought he'd gone to sleep, he'd start crying again. Rose had to pull over three times to calm him. She ultimately took him home first (meeting Craig right as he arrived home from work), then dropped me off.

Oh, and Rose finally gave me my birthday present from her - the DVD/Blu-Ray copy of Tangled, the newest Disney movie. I've been dying to see that. It sounds like fun. I gave her the Usual Suspects book-format screenplay I found at a yard sale last week.

And...congradulations to Keefe Jackman and Lower Cape May Regional's 50th anniversary Class of 2011! I'm proud of you, Buddy.