Spiffy Teens and a Strep Throat

Susan and I were invited to the junior/senior banquet hosted tonight by students from the school where she teaches. It was held in a banquet room at the Days Inn, and it featured dee-licious food: lettuce salad, pasta-and-vegetable salad, buns, corn, mashed potatoes, roast beef, and deep-fried turkey. We were able to attend because Susan's aunt Kathy was available to watch the girls tonight.

We sat at a table with a colleague of mine from the university, her husband, and two of their friends (all of them parents of seniors), so we had good visiting companions and heard interesting tales of their life journeys to their current homes and jobs in Dickinson. As for the banquet:

It opened with a blessing by a priest, but thereafter it was run entirely by students. There were two particularly humorous and adept public speakers (students) keeping things moving along apace with especial wit. They awarded silly prizes to various teachers, each one reflecting an "in" joke about that teacher that the students in attendance all "got" but that the adults didn't necessarily. They showed a photo slideshow with some video highlights, too: some funny pics and some sweet of students together in school, at school activities, at home, recently, years ago, etc. Even though I didn't know the students nor "get" the insider references and giggles, I still found it enjoyable to watch and could appreciate the value of the moment to those featured.

Most notably, all the students attending were dressed to the nines: shirts, ties, and dress pants and shoes for the men; cocktail/semi-formal dresses for the ladies. As one of the parents at our table remarked about the students, "They clean up well."

P.S. Suzanna has strep throat! I had to take her home early from school yesterday, and a late-afternoon appointment with the doctor led to the official diagnosis and the prescription of medicine. She stayed home from school today, but finally this evening she has been in better spirits. This morning, however, she told me, "If I have to go to school, I'll be the most miserable girl in the whole world."