I made several new friends in high school, but outside of them I felt like a social outcast. I wasn't interested in girls and they weren't interested ...n me. I wasn't gay or anything like that, sex just didn't occupy my mind, not like it did almost every other guy in the school.At home, I watched the business begin to take its toll on my mother. By the time I was in my senior year, having just turned eighteen, she was just thirty-five years old but was beginning to look like an old woman. She. At the wedding, we had purchased dozens of battery-powered LED lights, in several colors. A paper bag and some sand turned the lights into luminaries. I think Sheila must have liked the idea because little lights were everywhere.Sean met me at the garage, which meant Sheila was reluctant to bring the baby. That was cool. Protectiveness runs in the family. Sean gave me a big hug, then signaled for a security tech to help with the bags. I snorted as I recalled my attitude of two years before,. Today, I’d like to share some of what I saw and learned in this land, an ocean away from my hometown of Klamath Falls. Phetchaburi is rightly known as the palm tree province. There’s even a prestigious academic institute which teaches monkeys to fetch coconuts from the tops of palms, which grow to thirty feet and on. As a sort of showcase, the university where I taught is landscaped with many, many kinds of palms. Some would fit in on a California beach, others are stout and rugged, children. And it obviously pleased Dottie. Squeezing Dottie’s hand in gratitude, she grabbed the information and turned on the computer. A few days later, Dottie and Freddie celebrated when the letter telling Freddie that she had been accepted into the program arrived. Freddie took as many classes as possible in the remaining months of Dottie’s life. Dottie made sure that Freddie told her all about what she was learning. Although Dottie’s body was shutting down, her mind stayed active. She always had.