Vandy Departs

When Keli’i Rubin, his mother and I all approached El cerrito High School this morning to prepare for the departure of the Vanderbilt cohort there was a family of four deer waiting for us.  They seemed to be protective of their privacy, though, and by the time I was able to whip out my camera they had bolted for a safer and more private place where gawking humans might leave them alone.

I often play a little game where I guess which cohort member will arrive first--and which will arrive last.  Keli’i takes the prize this week for arriving more than an hour before scheduled.  I’ve mentally placed a gold star by his name.

While gathered and waiting, we were visited not once, but twice, by our friends on the El Cerrito Police force (making sure those deer didn’t bother us).  Of course, I’d wonder, too, why some fat guy in a loud aloha shirt was standing out in front of the local school in the middle of the night.

The heat wave we’re experiencing during the daylight hours extends to the night time hours as well.  Where we had 51º just two weeks ago and rain last week, this morning the temperature was a warm 63º with no hint of a breeze or fog.

By the time our Vandy group deboards their plane this afternoon in Washington D.C. they can expect temps around 80º with the mercury rising steadily so by the time they leave at the end of the week it will top 90º.

We did our normal routine of checking for ID’s and med cards, handing out loaner items and itineraries,    providing a reminder of things to do and then a brief pep talk.  We then got down to the real reason everyone had gathered so early in the AM:  the group photos.  A fine looking bunch of ILCers if ever I’ve seen one.

There’s only so many photos that we can take, though, and it was soon time to load up the airport shuttle, hug the folks and say some goodbyes.  By twelve minutes after five in the morning we could no longer see the tail lights of the shuttle and we knew it was time--time to see if our beds were still warm and to see how quickly we could get back to sleep.  We’ll miss our Vandy cohort but we need our beauty sleep first.