Ringo's World: Let the Celebrating Begin

After graduation we all went to the Cheesecake Factory. I led the advance crew in one car. Indy said her good-byes and after she had been hugged one time too many finally called it a night and headed to the restaurant. In the meantime, we had snagged the big booth and ordered everyone's drinks. Now that we know about how the timing works for servers, I knew it would be alot better to get those drinks going right away instead of getting seated and then sitting there for another 20 minutes and then placing the order probably at the same time another new table got seated, messing up the flow of things for the server.

The four of us sat around discussing the gifts I had brought (more on that) and heard back from the stragglers that they were on the freeway. After consulting with our server about how much time the kitchen needed to get our appetizers out, we decided the timing would be just about right and put in the double order of spinach & cheese dip. Amazingly enough, the very second the chips & dip arrived, so did Mike, Indy and Gib! Perfect timing! Indy was soooo happy because she was getting "cranky hungry" (it was after 8:30 pm) and didn't have to wait and I ordered her favorite appetizer!

Indy opened her congratulatory cards - 3 funny ones, 2 mushy ones, and a couple of surprises....Indy received a college savings bonus from Grammy and a piece of paper listing the specs of a new college laptop from Dad & Mom. It didn't take her long to figure out what that was all about! She was very surprised. It's amazing how much technology has changed since she got her first laptop 4 years ago. It's too much of a dinosaur and the original plans to take it in and have it swiped, fix the keyboard, etc., cost half as much as a brand new one, so we decided after all that hard work and a full scholarship, she deserved it! Indy & Mike placed her order today.

Then all the kids got to choose one of four gifts I had brought. There was alot of speculation about what they might be for the past few days. Obviously they were books. I had Mariah going there for a second when I said "Richest Man in Babylon" had a sequel. While we were waiting for the other half of the family to arrive, Mariah & Taryn were pumping me for information. They wanted hints, and to know how I knew which one was for which kid and did it matter. I made a big show out of pointing out the differences in the wrapping since Mariah had practically weighed and measured them and concluded they were all the exact same book. I said the one with the pointy tabs might be for the smartest child, or the one with the pointiest head, who knew?! The messiest went to...you guessed it, and so on. After much exasperation from Mariah and Taryn, I confessed that they were nearly all the same and it didn't matter which one went to which kid....but I let them in on a little secret. One was Hot Pink and I hoped that Gib ended up with it. That was my excitement factor. The books, by the way, are just these mega Sudoku books for the summer. I think they're the best ones I've seen yet and the kids like to work the puzzles when they are bored or during car rides, jury duty, etc (poor Indy!). There were 9 different choices of them, so I picked 4, and making sure one was pink.

Indy got first choice, then Taryn, then Mariah and then Gib. I was going to go in birth order, but Mariah was next to Taryn and she made a quick grab and so Gib ended up with.....the pink one!!! Hahaha, he thought it was red in the lighting, but no, it's quite Fuchsia! Taryn is probably his best bet for a trade involving free time on Need For Speed or something, Mariah would exact a stiffer trade for sure! She's a bit of tyrant in the trade department I am finding out! But, after hearing their glee last night, I am betting none of his sisters will do it unless Gib comes up with something really good. They have a cruel streak a mile wide and I have no idea who they get it from.

I almost forgot I had the camera!