Most of a walker’s milestones are unremarkable and unremarked. Yesterday Older Daughter took a short walk across a tented stage and passed a big one: High School. She graduated with distinction, accomplishment, praise, and promise. Congrats, lucky class of ’13!

And now, in a few fleeting summer weeks, she gets to head out and do it again. Four more years, if her path is straight and clear, to her next short walk milestone and a college degree. Oh the places she’ll go!

And there’s Younger Daughter, stepping up to take her place in the procession right behind. If the stars align we’ll be celebrating a pair of graduations in 2017. May we all remember, between now and then, to savor the journey.

“Que sais-je?” And what do I know about Einstein? I know he was a walker.

“Yes, I saw Einstein often walking on Mercer Street… sweater hanging down, sandals… We heard that his stepdaughter wanted to give him a car, but he preferred walking.”

“He was very friendly. It seems as though it was almost every day… He always walked.”

And did you know that Einstein loved to smoke?

As he walked between his house and his office at Princeton, one could often see him followed by a trail of smoke. Nearly as part of his image as his wild hair and baggy clothes was Einstein clutching his trusty briar pipe. In 1950, Einstein is noted as saying, “I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs,” Although he favored pipes, Einstein was not one to turn down a cigar or even a cigarette.

And he loved to ride.

Screen Free

It was the last day of class, before finals. We squeezed in a slew of reports in Bioethics: Tim’s on fracking (as a public health issue), Jacob’s on a legislator’s idiotic proposal to eliminate peer review as a criterion of federal funding for science, William’s on justice, fairness, & equality, Joshua’s on happiness, Nick’s on violence, Mike’s on organ donation, and Caleb’s on hyper-parenting. They were all timed and terrific, occasionally even TED-like in their crisp clock-awareness. I think I learned something yesterday.

But the big news is from Bell Buckle: Older Daughter smashed a triple over the center fielder’s head (and darn near over the fence) to drive in the tying run late in the game, and then scored the go-ahead. Her team won! They’re in the regionals, playing tomorrow in Donelson. Go Tigers!!

And, coincidentally: it’s “Screen Free Week“… perfect time for me to unplug and get busy grading. Later.