On Thursday 19 May 2011 the family attended #1 Son Merle's graduation ceremonies at the University of Maryland. The commencement speeches were conventionally inspirational: be passionate, today isn't an end but rather a beginning, follow your dreams, etc. More memorable were some striking coincidences:

• Shomik Datta was awarded his B.S. in biochemistry. He's the youngest son of my dear trail-running friend Gayatri Datta, whom I first met 5 years ago. I hadn't realized Shomik was graduating today. When I heard his name called I hastily snapped photos of him, then texted congratulations to Gayatri who turned out to be elsewhere in the huge UM basketball arena. Our families met and chatted afterwards.
• Jacqueline Smith got her Ph.D. in chemistry. The family occupying in the row behind me asked if I could take pictures of their daughter, since their camera couldn't handle the low light level or long distance to the stage. Of all the hundreds of people being honored, their daughter turned out to be Jacqueline — sitting only one seat away from Merle!
• Aron Wall received his Ph.D. in physics. He walked in to the morning session next to Merle. Aron's father Larry Wall is the creator of Perl, one of my favorite programming languages.

Congratulations to Merle on his accomplishment!

^z - 2011-05-23