Our oldest daughter, Jona-Lynn, is graduating from Nyack College in Nyack, NY this coming weekend. She has been part of a women's mentoring program, and last night they had a final banquet for the students, their mentors and one other important woman in the student's life. Jo invited her mom and my wife, Sue, to join her. Sue was eager to participate as soon as she heard of it, but is not one to drive in city traffic. I didn't have to be asked twice to make the trip with her.
Our second daughter, Naomi, is a Junior at the same school, so it was a great chance to see our two oldest for a while. Our youngest, Rose, stayed with her friend, Corban, and her family while we were gone. We travelled down on Saturday, and arrived at 2:00, just in time for our hotel check in time. We connected with the girls right away, and spent some time on campus with them, along with Naomi's boyfriend, Jeremiah.
I love the atmosphere at Nyack College. It is one of four college / seminaries of the Christian & Missionary Alliance denomination in the US. The Alliance is, I believe, the largest missionary - sending group in the world. In fact, I am told, there are more Alliance churches in the Philippines than in the US. It's emphasis has always been missions. Consequently, churches in other countries who want their ''brightest and best' to get an American Seminary education may be likely to choose an Alliance school. Consequently, Nyack College is very ethnically diverse, with about 40 countries represented in their student body. Due to its history and reputation, it is also denominationally diverse. It's been such an enriching environment for both our girls.
We took our girls and Jeremiah out to eat Saturday, then turned in early. The girls went back to campus as well, but we found out the next morning that at 10:30 PM, Jona-Lynn, on a dare, took a plunge into the Hudson River with a few friends. The video is on her facebook page, and it is very funny. They were freezing. (We found out later that Rose and Corban saw the video on facebook and they in torn went to a local beach and plunged in also. The water was probably colder in Maine, but definitely cleaner than the Hudson.
On Sunday after church Sue and Jo were pretty busy with preparations for their evening, so I spent the time with Naomi. She and I have always been close, so the time was very precious. Jeremiah and his friend, Dave (both of whom worked for me at camp last summer) joined us. I taught Dave to juggle last summer, and he's really taken to it, so we hung out in the campus gazebo and partner juggled for a good bit of time. Since it was an unusually cool day for New York in the spring, Jeremiah and Naomi had no choice but to snuggle while we juggled. Must be tough.
After Dave went back to his dorm, the three of us went downtown and poked around some shops. Then we went to eat at a great wings place, and had a really nice chance to talk. Jeremiah is a real laid back guy from the city, and he adores Naomi. I approve. As we talked, I remembered my college years: so naïve and idealistic. Where has the time gone?
After dropping them both off, I went back to campus to wait for the banquet to finish. As I often do when there's time to kill, I found a secluded area and I used the remaining daylight to juggle some more. At one point I looked up to the top of a nearby hill, and there was a herd of at least six deer. I know it's probably not the case, but I swear they seemed to be watching me.
Sue and Jo had an excellent time together, too, and we are now safely home. If you are facebook friends with either of them, I'm sure you can see pictures from their day. They were both tremendously beautiful in their gowns.
And so, on Friday we head back down to New York, this time with Rose, so we can attend Jo's graduation on Saturday.