Subject: Weekend Update: June 14-16, 2002
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 15:22:00 -0400

David Young flew into town last week.  That means whenever
he is visting Jessica, a baseball game will be on our TV.
I don't mind giving up the TV for sports in this case
because it occupies him with something other than my
daughter!  Or, perhaps he uses baseball to drive me out
of the room so he can be alone with my daughter!!  What
should one expect from a Braves fan?  Actually, he is
a good kid, if somewhat misdirected in his sporting
interests.

We held our final rehearsal for the children's musical
drama on Saturday morning.  Children's plays and memorizing
large parts were a thing of the past to me until Joy twisted
my arm into the role.  It's not thay I don't like doing
these plays with the children but it has become more
difficult for me to get my part down with all the other
hectic activity in life.  (I think it is harder for
children, too, because they are involved in many different
activities.)

Nevertheless, I agreed and began begun to learn my part back
in February because it had a lot of memorization and several
songs to learn. I played the part of "Grandfather Clock"
which was a supporting role to "Miss Curmudgeon"; a sort of
Miss Hanagan character to orphans in a sweat shop that made
clocks.  (I guess you'd have to see it.)  Interestingly, my
very own father played the same role in Wollaston just a few
years ago.  He's a block off the old chip.

Joy and I have come to expect certain foibles during the final
weeks of rehearsal, and this play was no exception, (missed
lines, false starts, fidgety children) so we felt that it
would all come together on Sunday morning.  And I have a
philosophy that helps me get past drama day anxiety, telling
myself that it will all be over in just a few hours and I
can get on with life.  We drilled through the play twice
before heading home for the main event of the day: Miranda's
college graduation party.

Four years ago this weekend, we held a graduation party=20
to celebrate Miranda's conclusion of high school.  The
day was a steady downpour that turned out to be the record
rainfall for a 24-hour period; 11 inches in Pepperell.
Sadly, it was raining again on Miranda's second (college)
graduation party.  The weather was cool, rainy and drizzly,
with the temperature hovering near 60.  I even had to turn
up the furnace a skosh to warm our guests.  Undaunted by
such averse conditions, Emily, Andrew, and a couple of
their friends jumped into the pool (which had 61-degree
water).  I believe they did it so that they could jump
into the hot tub afterward! Poppy and Gram, Sharon & Steve
and his boys also showed up to applaud the graduate. Forty-five
hamburgers and thirty hot dogs later, we were none the worse
for wear and Miranda had a good time with her friends.
(Miranda has an interview tomorrow (6/19) in Westford!
Both Miranda and Jessica finally come home for the summer
this evening, and school is out this week for the others.
Woohoo!)

Sunday was Father's Day.  Before breakfast, I signed a card
that my wife bought for my Dad.  He left it at the house so
that I can use it again next year, and possibly the year after
that. Jessica dragged herself out of bed to make breakfast for
me and her Grandpa.  That was really nice.

At church, the children's musical went fine in the first
service.  Chelsea Chronopoulos was a bundle of nervous energy
before the first service but told me before the second service
that she wasn't nervous at all anymore! I had just finished
telling Eric Magnuson that I worry about the second time
through because we get too relaxed and miss our cues. It turned
out to be a self-sulfilling prophecy because I was the one who
began reciting lines from my second scene in my first scene.
My wife's frantic hand gestures only further confused me and
I loused up the first half of my first song. Fortunately, I
regained my position midway through my first song and hit my
cues on target from then on.

Cheryl Patterson, "Miss Curmudgeon", played an exception role.
After church, her husband whisked her off to a cruise to Bermuda.
Nice!  I was whisked home for a nice ham dinner and an afternoon
nap as a reward for a job well done (or at least completed).
And that was nice, too.

Mark
+---_-----------+ Mark Metcalfe, Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
| c a d e n c e | Manager, PCB Enterprise Publications (CAD)
+---------------+ metcalfe@cadence.com, Phone: (978) 446-6451