detour

taking a detour from our

investiture remarks,

and before we start in again on our

never ending travels -

we think you should read this

it will give you chills.

Do What I Do

A good many of you were present at, or have heard about, the investiture for RBD JR. If you hadn't, you certainly gained an appreciation for the event through the accounts of FTD and MLL. I have struggled to come up with how to find my own words to describe the event as it was the pinnacle of years spent climbing a mountain for a man who deserved to be simply placed at the top. I had the distinct honor of spending a portion of that time with a front row seat; to witness the highs and lows, the times of excitement and extreme frustration; to seemingly reach the goal, only to see it dashed upon the rocks.

There was a portion of RBD Jr's remarks where he lauded us kids as being, "exceptional people," "role models," and people who "constantly seek out new challenges and treat others with dignity, respect, kindness, and compassion." If these words are true, it is only because we all, in our own way, wish to somehow come close to the example set by him. It was easy to see by the sheer numbers present at the event, he is as well a respected man in the community, both within his profession and out, as there comes. The outpouring of love, adoration, admiration, and pride was truly moving.

Over the past few weeks, I have been helping to clean out the basement for some sort of overhaul and have come across a number of awards and plaques that have been given to RBD Jr over the years. I would say he has been in a veritable who's who of lawyers in Florida during his career, except he is in an actual who's who publication. As a kid, I once said, "I bet if my Dad stood on this car, he could touch the top of this bridge." The bridge is on the way to Amelia Island, and is well out of reach of any man, standing on a car or not. I think a more realistic statement would be, he is one of the smartest people I know.

A portion of his remarks reads as follows:

"I come to the bench at a tumultuous time in our nations’ history. Our political
discourse is marked with sharp division and rancor. We are in danger of losing
sight of the fact that the issues that unite us as a nation are far greater and
more enduring than the issues that divide us. In some respects the operation of
our government has become so dysfunctional that the confidence of the public
in our collective ability to solve problems and maintain our position in the world
as an icon of justice and equality is being undermined."

This particular excerpt from his remarks stood out to me. It has been well documented that I do not like to talk politics, especially over social media, because of the "I'm right, you're wrong or just an idiot" discourse that seems unchangeable. I have come back to these remarks many times since the investiture, and I thought, if only government officials would take a page from me, and try and be more like my dad. I have no doubt we would be in a better place if they did.

I, for one, will always try and follow his lead.

Hail to the Chief Part II

I am fairly certain that

O Captain, my Captain,

told us that the specific words were...

"Hail to the Chief cause he's the chief and he needs hailing..."

and so, to this day, those are the lyrics

I sing when I hear the tune.

Dads are never wrong,

right?

FTD captured the event pretty perfectly,

and the only real thing to add

is my adoration and admiration of

His Honor.

dear ole dad.

sweet little p thinks pretty highly of his Granddad too,

and insisted he be held while the new Judge

was taking his oath.

pretty sure Granddad didn't mind

(translation, loved every second of it, could hardly contain his joy).

p almost stole the show with his antics up front

which consisted of -

running away from his parents (a favorite new activity),

twirling his sweater over his head,

and throwing raisins all over the floor.

all of this was invisible to most of the crowd,

except the judicial bench.

awesome.

they really didn't seem to mind.

p got plenty of compliments,

but the real accolades were saved for RBD Jr.

much deserved, after a long wait.

i've said it before, but it deserves saying again,

we're proud of you dad,

we love you.

congratulations on your new title -

but to us, you'll always be:

dad

mr. skipper

granddad

pop pop

pops

mentor

friend

hero.

i'll leave the rest of you with some quotes that describe

the event, the family, etc.

from UF

"in all kinds of weather we all stick together"

and Psalm 16

 “Lord, you have assigned me my portion
and my cup. You have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen
for me in pleasant places.”

we are blessed indeed.

we missed you RBD III.

stay safe.

Hail to the Chief

Did you know that "Hail to the Chief" actually has lyrics? Two versions are on wikipedia (and therefore, must be truth). The words written by Sir Walter Scott go like this: 

Hail to the chief, who in triumph advances,

Honour'd and blest be the evergreen pine!

Long may the tree in his banner that glances,

Flourish the shelter and grace of our line.

Heaven send it happy dew,

Earth lend it sap anew,

Gaily to bourgeon and broadly to grow;

While every highland glen,

Sends our shout back agen,

"Roderigh Vich Alpine Dhu, ho! i-e-roe!"

No wonder the words are never sung. So, we didn't elect a new President, but we did participate in a formal ceremony which bestows RBD Jr., the captain of our ship, as "His Honor". To be honest, I wasn't giving the investiture as much respect as it deserved (outside of the total thrill and excitement of RBD Jr. and the family) until I discovered how many people took time to come down to the courthouse and participate. We had district judges, magistrate judges, a judge from Louisiana. There were former law partners of RBD Jr, lawyers from the bar association, practically every person in the neighborhood and half the population of his hometown. It was such an honor to see the love and respect the community has for what he has achieved and their desire to participate in our celebration. 

It's kind of fun to participate in all the pomp and circumstance once in a while. There were moments of sobriety, as we acknowledged the absence of RBD III. Moments of adoration, as speakers praised the intelligence, commitment, and passion of the new judge. Moments of hilarity in old stories and really old pictures. Most of all it was pure celebration of a difficult and long journey.

The Oath

It is not often children get to see the dreams of a parent come true and the magnitude of the day was not lost on us. We're so proud of him. And I'll tell you what, the judge can write a good speech. Any one who needs to bestow kind words upon their family in public should hire him as a speech writer. I think we all held back a few tears. Either that or focused on hilarious little p, who entertained us as always.

Proud of Dad and Pop Pop



Missing RBD III



My initial reaction to the whole thing is pretty much summed up in the following email:
1. I would like to say that I called Dad taking the oath with p on his hip in advance of it actually happening. 

2. I was surprised that p didn't give Judge B a "high-five", though I suspect he would have had he met big P before.

3. LDL, you looked really good in that shirt.

4. RBD Jr, you looked just as good in the judge's robe as you did in the bath robe. 

5. RBD III, we really missed you!!

Hopefully the rest of the blogging posse will share their stories too. It was a great day for family, friends, and parties.

Free Falling

I am traveling today. I love seeing different countries, counties, cities, and communities. I love the discovery of new things to do, places to eat, and occasionally I like meeting new people. To say that I like to travel, however, is a lie. I do not travel well. Sometimes, like when I sit at a gate, stop paying attention, and fail to board even though they announce my name and therefore miss my flight, it is my own fault. Other times, like, every other time, it is the complete ineptitude of mass transit, airlines, airports, power-tripped TSA agents, and the more than occasional idiot people also traveling that day that causes my travel woes. Today was no different. Except it was.

It's a business trip to Pasadena that pulls me into the airport this time. Although I am fully aware of my tendency to not prepare, I went to bed last night unpacked, with no plans for getting Pax to my friend SAB's house, and little idea of how I was going to get to the airport. I also failed to print proper documents that needed my review prior to this meeting. Thankfully, I had a very productive morning and accomplished all of that in record time. To reward myself for miraculously accomplishing in a few short hours what would normally take me a day, I took myself home early and headed for a relaxing (and needed) manicure and pedicure. Not. At. All. Relaxing. 

Toward the end of the session at Rendezvous Nails, nails in the dryer, and payment made, a young man randomly stopped at the window and made a bizarre salute. I happened to have been staring out the window at the time and caught his eye. Quickly I realized that this man was missing more than a few marbles and immediately became fascinated with the scar on my right foot. Bad idea. Seemingly frustrated at my lack of interest, the man began waving his arms frantically and making loud, primal sounds. Then, frustration grew to anger and he raised both fists and banged them against the window with enough force to shake the building (doesn't bode well for the structure during an earthquake). While the window continued to vibrate, women in the salon asked if I knew the man. When I responded quickly in the negative, the technicians began speaking very, very, very quickly in a language I could not determine. 

The owner of the place left her customer and ran outside as soon as she saw a police car cruising the street. The slow pace of the first car made the following three look like a Nascar qualifier. Then came the fire trucks and an ambulance. I exited the salon after being assured by the owner that she had seen the man tackled and handcuffed. Standing in front of the public library was a gaggle of housewives and construction workers, watching the mayhem. A few people just wanted to get back inside their houses, but were being blocked by officers. Rumor had it that the culprit had been brought to the ground with a huge gun. LDL reminds me that a taser looks a bit like a gun. But my travel day continues and I cannot wait to hear the reason for the chase. 

You would think that my travel day would be cake compared to the heart racing event that had just taken place. Please, this is my life we're talking about. 

I arrive at SFO after a rough half hour in traffic but have experately packed my bag and printed my boarding pass. As I enter the security line, a TSA agent grasps my elbow and asks if I am alone. Yes, sir. I am traveling by myself. He points to the tiny shoulder purse I am carrying and tells me that I must put it in my computer bag as it adds to my total count. A small roller bag, compact computer bag, and a tiny purse are not allowed if you travel alone. TSA tells me that he will let me pass if I put my purse inside my suitcase prior to arriving to the ID check. Yes, sir. I'll be happy to do that as soon as the line stops moving. Before I have a chance to do so (my ID is in the purse, so it needed to stay out until I arrived at the ID check), the same agent motions to me, moves the line rope and ushers me out, yelling about my "3" bags the whole way. Before I leave the line completely, I shove my tiny purse in the pocket of my suitcase, show my ID to the other TSA agent, correctly say my last name and walk calmly to have my bags inspected. 

Come Fly the Friendly Skies. 

My flight is now delayed an hour. Super Shuttle will have stopped running by the time I land. At least I have the entertainment of a young mother flirting with a random young man sitting across from me. I've never been so thankful for ESPN3.com and it's available replay of the greatest comeback I have ever seen. If you haven't seen it, you're missing out. Seriously. www.espn.com; www.fifa.com; www.espn.com/espnw. Watch it and watch USWNT again on Wednesday. 

hooray for the 4th of july -

it's hard to know where to begin.

as usual, there really is never a moment

of peace,

among the brothers & sisters.

i blogged about our heavy hearts last time,

so i'll work on keeping it light.

before we said "see you later RBDIII"

some of us celebrated the 4th the way you should,

at a Washington Nationals baseball game.

we met up to say hello to an old friend,

switched our allegiances dating back to a 1991

opening day game at Camden Yards

to the Nats.

we enjoyed the ball game, beer, hot dogs,

and ice cream.  we all know from this post

that p loves ice cream.

as in, i never get to eat any.

and p and uncle RBDIII got some good quality time.

p started out really enjoying his

shoulder ride -

and ended up acting more like a sack of potatoes.

it was fun.  a good 4th of July,

my favorite holiday, except for the whole deployment thing,

that sucks (totally an appropriate word for the occasion).

some other photos from the holiday weekend...

i've also been busy with some projects,

which i will post about that since this one is getting

a little long.

besides, maybe it will give some other contributers

time to contribute.

things i am excited about?

july 15; winnie-the-pooh in theaters.

a beach trip, o-town family celebration,

a little "sprinkle" for sprout # 2 (who has been named!!  initials MLL),

and then waiting...to be a family of four.









five

yesterday, july 4th,

RBDIII left the country again.

this makes five deployments in war time.

how many do you think is

enough?