Busy Weekend

I packed a lot in to one weekend...it's summer time so there is lots to do. Friday night I went with some girlfriends to Free Friday Night Flicks downtown. The show was the American classic "To Kill a Mockingbird." One of my all time favorite books and the first time I saw the movie. It was fun to see it on the BIG screen. They even had the author in attendance giving autographs (of course, I didn't know that in advance - I would have liked her to sign my copy of the book). I learned something - Haper Lee is young. She's probably in her fourties, maybe her fifties. What's amazing is the movie was made in the 50's, so the book was written before that! If you did the math, she was a teenager when she wrote the book. What I learned is, it was the only book she ever wrote, her one and only. I find that intriguing. Why did she never write another book? It's a mystery to me...

Kenyon and I helped a friend move in the morning. In the evening I had planned a surpise birthday celebration for him. Tuesday is his 29th birthday - yes, I'm older than he is, I admit it...I am dating a younger man. Yeah for me! Smile! We went to a comedy show. Kansas City has a great improv company. The show is kind of like "Who's line is it anyway?" - only it's live and absolutely hilarious! He had no idea where we were going, but he really enjoyed it.

Sunday I met the family. Yikes! Kenyon does not know who his father is, his mother died when he was young, he and his brothers spent some time in foster care and then his grandfather adopted them. His gradfather is dead. His family is not a biological family, but a pastor and his wife who are the adopted parents of his good friend Jose. Jose was adopted by this couple from Brazil. We attended their church in Missouri and then had lunch. It was nice to meet people who matter to him and who know him well. Surprisingly, I wasn't nervous or uncomfortable. That's a first.

I returned to work today - 10 days left and counting. Today was the launch of Pathways 2006. Pathways is a leadership development program for at risk youth. It is a partnership between the school district, local community college and KU. The kids are in 7th and 8th grade and are considered "at risk," but with potential. I was one of the speakers today. It even made the news. My 15 minutes of fame.

It's probably hard to believe, but there are lots of things I said "no" to over the last three days. No rest for the weary...