Regina left the 80 degree weather of San Diego to spend six days in sub-freezing Georgetown! It was so good to see her again. At one point she said, "I am never more comfortable than when I am with you. I feel like I can do and say whatever I want and I'll be accepted." I concur with her regarding how I feel and am amazed at how many topics of conversation we had during her trip, with plenty remaining on the list when she left. Regina will serve as the next Board Chairwoman for the Girls Scouts of San Diego, an organization with more than 40,000 girls and volunteers. Her daughter, Maya, is 10 and plays flute in a symphony. Shea continues in sales and frequently flies around the country and world for business.
I had to work while she was here, so she came to work with me! She attended three of my classes (and learned oh so much about heuristics, social cognition, as well as dysfunctional and healthy forms of communication) and worked on her laptop when I had meetings. Doug had lunch with us; he and Regina talked about their experiences interviewing prospective students for Yale (he's class of '64). We played a prank on a religion professor that involved hangars. We leafed through our 25-year reunion Yale book and laughed like lunatics reminiscing. We got to hang with the Fro-Jo bear twice and tried a third time but they were closed due to the blizzard. Regina taught us a card game, Phase 10, that we played every night with Elizabeth. Zoe was quite taken by Regina, while Niki remained her skittish self!
We spent most of the weekend she was here at the Kentucky Basketball Academy (KBA) in Lexington. It was the 8th grade state championship tournament. Guess what? Michael's underdog team made it to the Final Four of 68 teams in the gold bracket (there are 2 brackets). They just kept winning and winning. It was U N B E L I E V A B L E. Michael had spectacular games, in terms of scoring, defending, and ball handling. There are typically a few hours in between games, so Regina became very familiar with Meijer (next door to KBA), Fayette Mall, and of course the above-mentioned Fro-Jo bear. One of our last games was against Shelly Wells Walter's son's team (we won in overtime). It was good to see Shelly again, although we both felt slightly odd when rooting for our son's team and not our friend's son's team!
Before the tournament, Michael celebrated 8th grade night (final home game of the regular season) with his basketball team; to the left is the poster Steven and I made for Michael, which hung in his school's hallway; to the right is the sheet with information the emcee read as Elizabeth, Steven, and I proudly walked out onto the court with him. His advice to others was "Always trust your teammates." Granna came to his final away game, this time traveling to Harrison County with us to watch him. His team won by 30!It has been a wonderful month, and I think all 6 of us (even skittish Niki) still miss Regina. I know I sure do. What a beautiful, 29-year friendship we have.
