I nearly broke in to tears. I didn’t want to hear it, but already knew it. Tommie, as he wanted to be called, had not gotten the scholarships he n...eded to get into a more prestigious college and settled for the community college, where he did receive better grades, but a diploma from the local community college didn’t carry the weight of a more reputable college did. As a result, for the last 15 years, he had been scratching out a living at the local wood mill. You could see that his lot I. We had just dressed over our suits. Both of us stripped our cover-up's off and stood arm in arm again. We let go long enough to slowly turn around. Mom said, "You two need to give your Dad a good look. It will help prepare him for our vacation later this summer!"Dad's eyes were a little wide. He slowly said, "I will if you will."Mom grinned, "Good. Ours are deep blue. I did get you the large pouch, too."For the first time, I saw Dad blush and, for the second, he was speechless. Mom leaned over. Finally I laughingly said, "Everything is okay. Trust us. When you don't, we will make you crazy!"Lisa said, "There is one piece of news that you will like. We had explained to Annie that our island time is spent naked. I suggested to her that she greet Red that way at home one evening. She did and it took them two days to quit grinning. They were both late for work the next day." Melody and Mitch had a good laugh and admitted that they did sort of miss work but were having a great time. They. Our conversations were always lively. She understood and loved discussing things with me that nobody else had ever been able to. Her typed words were animated and thoughtful, clever, and thought provoking. Incredibly, as intelligent as she was, her perspective was very fresh and innocent. She has an ageless quality, too wise and mature to be a child, yet too honest and naïve... sweet, to be an adult. The contradiction mesmerized me. She didn't even realize that she'd already won my heart..