These were to be Laura's last days at Stanford. After 4 years of hard work, it had to end sometime, and that it did on June 19, 2006. Just last year Laura received the Hoeffer award and Phi Beta Kappa. This year she received the Phi Beta Kappa again. We brought in Grandpa Charley and Ruth in from Buffalo as well as Aunt Ginny and Uncle Frank, also from Buffalo, for the 4 days of graduation ceremonies.
It started with a dinner for just the Urban Studies grads at a restaurant in downtown Palo Alto. I went with Laura, since I can always fit in time for a free dinner and drinks. The next day the whole crew went to the Four Seasons for a dinner just before the Phi Beta Kappa ceremony. At the actual graduation, Tom Brokaw spoke. He said a few words to the effect that Stanford grads have a lot of choices that many of the young people fighting in Iraq do not have. Although Brokaw is a typical lefty liberal, saying this much that was positive about Iraq was taking a big chance with this Stanford crowd. About 1 in 3 cars at Stanford still sports their John Kerry bumper stickers that are nearly 3 years old.
We all took a tour of the campus and located several of the earthquake posters that Laura had created the year before under a Stanford grant. At the Urban Studies graduation ceremony, two faculty members gave Laura quite a build up. Laura received 4 separate awards, more than any other Urban Studies grad. We also found time to visit Laura's new apartment in San Francisco, which is only a couple of miles from her new job as an analyst for the Concord Group, which is real estate consulting business. Finally, we all took a trip on the Napa Valley Wine Train.