Save the Fuzzballs!

Ok, so still no wedding photos, but they haven't been developed yet, so I have an excuse. Instead, I'll have to entertain you with stories of my homeland.

Happily, there are many kittens hanging around my house these days. They're mostly little orange tabby kittens, but none of the little fuzzies want to have anything to do with humans. This became painfully obvious to me one day as I was trying to save one's life. See, my dad had shoulder surgery a few months ago, and I was driving him to a check up in Columbus, GA, when we heard a soft mewing from somewhere under the car. After pulling over and crawling under the car, then getting under there again at the vet's office, we took the car to a local dealership to see if they would have any luck. I was totally distraught at this point, near tears, and really angry at my father who kept worrying about making the appointment on time. The dealership said it was a common problem and took off just the right panel to remove the little thing, but he jumped out and hid in the inner-workings of another car. Another panel removal...another car for the kitty. Finally, we popped the hood on the third vehicle (a huge truck) and the tiny orange kitten was sitting on top of the motor. I plucked him up by the back of the neck and wrestled him out of the tubes and gauges. I managed to hold on to him long enough to get him in the car where bit my mother's finger and got away from me again, but one of the nice mechanics gave me a soft shop towel to put over him and he quieted down. We boarded him at the vet for the afternoon and headed on to the doctor. Mom picked up the kitten on her way home and carefully dumped him outside, but the little thing just scampered away and still has no idea that we saved his life. He has joined the brigade of other stray cats that we have--Baby, the small calico who seems to be the source of all the kittens; Orange Kitty, a really mean, fluffy tabby who humps everything in sight; Knot, a gray and black tabby who has a hairless spot in the middle of his tail; Miscellaneous kitties, this is a rotating feline crew of tabbies and calicos who live under our garage. We love them, we feed them, and we get no thanks for saving their lives. I mean, anyone who knows cats knows that they regard humans as a convenient source of food and attention. Catlovers be warned...the kitties remain ungrateful.

Update

So graduation went well. It happened despite my suspicions to the contrary, and it ended up being a nice day. Buist did an amazing job of delivering a touching and funny speech as senior speaker, (here we are after graduation),
and Richard Codey (the guy who took over for McGreevey) was nice, brief, and down to earth. Our president said a lot of stuff that no one believed, but whatever. The graduate school was left out of the ceremony for the most part. Some awards were given by the undergrads and the theo school, but the grad school gave no presentations. There were speakers for the undergrads and for the the theo school, but not for the grad school. Supposedly, we're supposed to be represented by the theological school at graduation, but I don't remember being asked to nominate any one for our speaker or anything. It just goes to show that the president of our university views the graduate school as the red-headed stepchild of the university. We also got rained on a little because the president insisted on having the ceremony outside...did I mention he was under the porch roof?

Enough about that. We had a lovely reception at the cafeteria where we gathered by majors and schools, and I got to see people for what would be the last time. I did some last minute inviting of people to the dinner that John and Yvette were having for me, and we had a really good crowd at the party later. If any of you are reading this now, thanks again for coming! The Vieiras made me a lovely scrapbook, served us fabulous food (as usual), and didn't kid me too much when I almost cried in front of everyone. I'm really going to miss them, but they're coming down in November for the Peanut Festival, so that'll be fun. The next morning, I dropped Daddy, Lauren, and Granny at the airport and said goodbye to Sarah, Brandon, Buist and the Bickley's (hey everybody, miss you). Around noon, mom and I set out driving my stuff home in a car that was so full that we couldn't open the back doors. To put more stuff in, we just stuffed it back there from the front seat. Mom joked that we couldn't have gotten another sheet of paper in there, and she may have been right. We made it through Virginia the first day (my goal), and stayed at a hotel in NC for the night. We got home at about 4:30 the next day, so we totally made great time. It was a good trip and seemed much shorter than the ride up there. By the way, my little car is so happy to be back in Alabama. Even though she's dirty and needs an oil change.

Home is good right now. The wedding is just a few days away, so we're doing final preparations and errands for that. Mom and I met the caterers the other day and picked out the menu. They thought it was so funny that the bride's mother and sister were planning everything. It works out though because we enjoy it, and Lauren trusts us. We get her opinion, do research, present options, and then she chooses. It's a great system that has really worked for this wedding. Looks like I won't be reading anything at the wedding, but that's ok. I plan to be sedated so I don't cry hysterically when my sister and father come walking down the aisle... Now that it's almost here, I'm really looking forward to a fun wedding on Saturday. Lauren's pretty laid back about these things, so let's hope that continues on Saturday.

For now, I'm teaching English and reading with Upward Bound on campus at Troy University. I was an R.A. with the program for two years in college at Troy and had a great time (except when that girl keyed my car), so it's good to be working with them again. We have class from 8:00-12:00 and then again at 2:00. It's a good summer job, and my living situation couldn't have worked out better. I originally thought I was going to have to migrate from one friend's couch to another (my mother's been joking about my gypsy existence lately), but a friend of the family owns a house here and offered me one of her son's rooms. It's just minutes from campus, and it's a huge, 4 bedroom house with a pool and wireless internet, so I really couldn't be happier. Well, maybe if there were shirtless men to clean the pool and rub my feet at night, but other than that it's idea.

After the wedding, I'm going to attempt to put up some pictures. Wish me luck and stay tuned.