Ying—China, England, Missouri

Many people wear mortar boards at this time of the year. But only one of them is Ying. My First Wife and I love Ying. We’ve known her for four years. Already?! She came to the US for college at the tender age of 17. Alone.

Ying speaks impeccable English—with a British accent. She lived in England for several years where her father was a Chinese government diplomat. While she’s been in the US, she’s made two trips to visit her parents “back home” in Beijing, China. Alone.

This Saturday she graduated—Summa Cum Laude , thank you very much!—from the University of Missouri at Kansas City (UMKC). Next semester, she’ll be at Purdue University to study for a PhD in Pharmacy. Alone.

Ying’s very brave and determined, and quite a lot of fun, too. It’s been our blessing to be a tiny part of this beautiful and special young woman’s career.

And, oh yeah...doesn’t she makes that "hat" look good?

Dean—Kansas

I met Dean one evening about four years ago when I was out walking. Since then, we’ve run across each other several times and developed a fine friendship. I suppose I’ve seen him a ka-jillion times out on one sidewalk or another, and I’ve never seen him without his hat, without a smile or without his little dog, Lucky. We always pause for a “…how ya’ doin’?” chat.

Once I saw him driving away from the grocery store. I didn’t know he could drive a car, because he has MS or MD; I can never remember which. That doesn’t keep him from doing what he enjoys: walking Lucky two or three times a day. Dean and Lucky will stay out about a half an hour at a time or until Lucky gets tired. Then he jumps up onto Dean’s scooter for the long ride home. Lucky is blind.

What a world we live in! Lucky can't see, Dean can't walk; but they can go around the block together! Dean and Lucky make life inspirational for the rest of us, don't they?

Julia and Joe--Massachusetts

Julia and I are blogging buddies. She's a runner; I'm a walker. One of these days, she's gonna come to Kansas and run in the Heart of America. We both enjoy gourmet dinners and excellent wine. Somehow or another we connected and read each other's blogs. Graciously, graciously she sent me these two pictures. They were taken just moments after she finished The 2007 Boston Marathon—her fifth one.

In the first picture, her husband Joe is presenting her with a bouquet of roses at the finish line. Joe had already finished the race, went home for a shower and a change of clothes, stopped by a florist for the flowers and then made it back to finish line in plenty of time to cheer for Julia. That's Julia in the white hat—still huffing and puffing.



In the second picture, Julia's a little more composed, thinking, "This man is a keeper!"


Julia also has an affinity for bucket hats.