Father's day has come and gone, and I think we did a pretty good job of it this year. The Thursday before my Grandma left (on Friday), we held a gag-father's day. We had bought a few gag gifts that ranged in severity from squeaky-clean melon ballers and lemon zesters to daringly racy just-for-men hair dye (which Dad has yet to use, although he claims he will on Thursday). We saw Grandma off to the airport on Friday, saw them confuse her tickets and luggage with somebody else's, and then heard from her on Saturday that even though New Bern said they'd fixed the snafu, the airline had lost her luggage (and six others on the same flight from LA to San Louis Obispo). Saturday, I also cut grass so we could enjoy some lawn-based fun activities on Father's day. Zoey is scared of the lawn mower, but that fear conflicts with her desire to play with the person on the lawn mower, which resulted in her running after me every time I turned a corner, a hopeful gleam glowing in her doggy eyes.

Sunday began somewhat late for me, or early, I should say, because I was up until two wrapping Dad's presents, cleaning the kitchen, and then wrapping a present for TJ's friend Theresa whose birthday happened to be that Sunday. Mom knew I was up late because we both got up to let Leo out of her and Dad's room at 1:30, which is why I think she let me sleep so late. The discussion during breakfast was quite deep. We talked about religion, homosexuality, abortion, and other controversial topics. Both parents called homosexuality unnatural, because it does not produce offspring. The said that marriage was between a man and a woman, and that they had no quarrel with civil unions for homosexuals and their partners. Then it was said that perhaps all the gays should just go move to Paris. I said all the Nazis should go back to Germany. Through this discussion, I politely differed on every count. I see no reason why we can't have gay marriage; I don't see it as a threat to the sanctity of marriage, although I am not married and know nothing personally of the sanctity of marriage. I asked who said marriage was just between a man and a woman; the bible, biblical times. And sodomy and buggery have been crimes in most societies ever since and before biblical times. OK, but they've still occurred, with almost the same frequency as heterosexual relations, so how unnatural are they? And if we gave homosexuals and their partners the same rights as married heterosexuals - spousal health insurance coverage for starters - I don't think the system would become abused. I'm sure no heterosexual couples would ever try to hoodwink the system just to get that insurance or tax break or what-have-you. I don't think homosexuals are going to Hell, I'm not even sure I believe in Hell, but I certainly do not believe anyone who would condemn a person just because of their sexual orientation. And, as George Carlin put it in regards to abortion, the conservative right-to-lifers condemn abortion and condemn gays. But homosexuals are one group of people almost guaranteed to never have an abortion. How crazy is that? And then we talked about religion, and how certain faiths condemn any person who is not part of the faith or leaves the faith to death. I said that that may be true, but there are people in every religion (not many, mind you, but some) who believe that any person who does not follow their faith is going to Hell and doesn't deserve God's love (I happened to meet one, who told me quite kindly that both of his parents were going to Hell because they had not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior). Anyway, I'm quite a bit more liberal than either of my parents on social matters. I will not support amendments that ban gay marriage or ban first trimester abortions. I don't believe a person will go to Hell because they do not believe in the same God or Gods I believe in. People can believe what they want, and more power to them for sticking to their beliefs, but when they try to enforce those beliefs on me, then it becomes a problem. These are all reasons why I left the College Republicans and refuse to join the College Democrats. Rebecca registered to vote, and guess what party she put down...Independent.

After breakfast, I set up an extreme croquet course (which is still intact, should anyone want to play). When TJ and Theresa arrived, we played some croquet (Mom won). Then, we played badminton until dinner, and after dinner, we played another round of extreme croquet (TJ won, I got first loser). Then it was time for presents - we didn't overdo it this year - just some books (including a Jeffrey Deaver I am quite keen to get my hands on), some movies, and a push-mower. We bought Theresa a set of pale-purple lavender blossom Yankee candles. She loved them! Then it was goodbye and goodnight.