Julia's Graduation

Julia has that long suffering expression of someone who just tolerates being photographed. She has a lot to be proud of, getting  her Master's Degree from NYU in educational counseling. She has a job next year at a school in Brooklyn for very high functioning autistic kids. She has had a long journey since she was diagnosed as  profoundly deaf when she was two weeks old. She has had a lot of support from her family and friends and has worked hard. We are all incredibly proud of her. She has a tattoo on her arm that says, "still I rise..." taken from the Maya Angelou poem of the same name.

She gave me a copy of the college entrance essay she wrote when she was a senior in high school. It brought tears to my eyes when I read it for the first time and it still does, but I think it shows her strength and marks a turning point for her, the moment when she decided to own her deafness; to rise above feeling sorry for herself and take charge of her life.

Today has been another one of those dreary days of lowering mist, chilly breezes and a general feeling of lethargy. We gave Spike a bath  and took him out for a walk in the neighborhood which we used to call 'the canyon' when it was hilly trails through tall grasses with a creek and trees. The  creek is all that remains now. The hills are covered with houses and a lot of the stately oak trees burned in the Glass fire but it is a fairly vehicle free walk up the fire road. We tried to see if the old trail down from behind our house is still passable, but it was hard to tell through the one bit of tall grass that still remains.

We enjoyed our dinner with Bruce and Cindy last night, and Hazel and Spike entertained each other* while we ate. We did have to close our bedroom after Hazel emerged from our closet with John's underpants.   

*extra