A Genius Of A Plan

I'm on the road again. You wouldn't know, it except for me confessing to it right now. Thanks to the magic of the Blogosphere, I am providing you with this slice of life while in actual life, I am a captive in the shotgun seat of A-Cad while Farmer H sweaves along the back roads of Hillmomba.

We've been to have lunch with Genius. A farewell lunch. He graduates on Saturday afternoon. Because College Town will be teeming with proud parents and (former) students dying to cut loose, we have taken Genius's suggestion to dine with him the day before graduation. For all I know, he has an evening of drunken debauchery planned. But we're fine with this schedule.

Farmer H had originally decreed that we'd just spend the night in College Town. Then we wouldn't have to worry about the weather and making it to the graduation ceremony on time. It was this weekend last year that saw the ice storm that nearly derailed us in trying to meet The Pony halfway home and herd him back to the Mansion.

I'd already made reservations for a room. Even a month ago, rooms were at a premium in College Town, with our old standby, Holiday Inn Express and Suites, already sold out. I found another quality facility nearby, with an indoor pool for Farmer H. The plan was to take Genius out to dinner Friday evening before his Saturday graduation, then come on home after the ceremony, allowing him to do whatever it is he wanted to do, with his friends and roommates.

Let the record show that plans change. Genius remembered that one of his roomies was being commissioned. A U.S. Army commission. They all wanted to attend, which would cut into the time of our Friday night dinner. Genius said he'd need to get ready for it at 5:00. So he switched to a Last Lunch instead of a Last Supper. That was fine. We'd be there anyway. But then what were we going to do all evening? Swim in the indoor pool for Farmer H, I guess. But we'd have to get out at 11:00 the next day, and graduation wasn't until 3:00 or 4:00. So we'd have to find somewhere to go. I don't think even Farmer H could spend four hours in Goodwill.

Farmer H decided that I should cancel the reservation, and we'd just drive down Friday for lunch, and then home. We could go back Saturday for the graduation. No packing to deal with. No idle time to kill. No motel fee. We're only two hours away, in good weather.

Genius decided that he'd like to invite some of his buddies to lunch. A couple of the other guys' parents had come down a previous weekend, and taken them all out to eat. So it was only fair to reciprocate. Not a big deal to us. Genius decided on pizza at one of the places there that he doesn't go to because of the expense. Not that it would break us, of course. It's still pizza, not a steakhouse. Then Genius decided that since it's lunch, it might as well be at 1:00 instead of 3:00. And he's only bringing three people, because some girlfriends couldn't make it, and some guys had last-minute things to do.

Whew! This post-graduation intimate dinner with Genius has turned into a pre-graduation lunch with Genius and Co. That's okay. We still love him.

And we're SO VERY PROUD of him.

Genius's campus boss, the head photographer for the university, has offered to take graduation pictures of him with us after lunch. So we'll avoid that crowd on Saturday, too.

Almost one down...one to go.