Day 917: Sally and Maggie

Today, I feel more hopeful about the country.  Sally and AJ, Maggie, Brie, Abby, Jake and so many other young people give me hope for the future.   Their optimism, integrity, intelligence, perseverance and tolerance could change attitudes.  It will take a long time, but maybe by the time our generation is gone, they cam put things right and get past all the animosity toward minority groups.

We spent the morning shopping for new day lilies at the Nass Daylily farm.  Mr. and Mrs. Nass are incredibly nice, so kind, intelligent and sharp.  I picked up nine lilies, mostly early bloomers, and will go back in a month to get some late bloomers.

Then, we went to see Sally and AJ up in Arkwright.  They both just finished their master's degrees in public health policy at John's Hopkins.  Now, they are enrolled in the Ph.D. program.   Since Sally's area of concentration is family planning, she is going to Nigeria at the end of August to oversee the collection of data from public surveys.

Sally, Steve and I go way back.  Steve was her teacher in 7th and 8th grade, then she was my student in 10th grade.  We did Model UN and backpacking together.  Plus, she traveled to France with us.  She is brilliant, kind, sensitive and driven to make a difference and I believe she can.

After planting the lilies and swimming, we went to Maggie's graduation party.  Maggie shares so many of Sally's characteristics and she also has a brilliant future ahead of her.

AJ and Sally with us

Brian, Leanna, Sally and us

Now, that's a treehouse!