Dear Blog,

Today was a beautiful day. I woke up, took a bath, had time to get dressed and groomed like a normal girl, and had a good breakfast. I went to school and took my final AP test. Right now it all seems like such a blur...I remember thinking that the multiple choice on today's test was a lot easier than the multiple choice on saturday's test, but now I'm not so sure. The essays were definately a lot harder for me today. The first essay was on DNA and to prove that it was the hereditary material. I had to choose two experiments out of three and decribe them and how they relate to DNA....and there was another part....oh! yeah, the last part of the first essay was to explain the apparent contradiction of DNA and gene sequencing (how humans must have similar sequencing, yet every person has a unique DNA fingerprint). And that was only one essay! Luckily the others were easier than that one....but (as David would say...) Jeezy-Queezy! that one was definately, um, bad.

So the next big thing I did today was go to water polo practice. Now, let me remind you of my sports schedule: Water Polo in the winter, swim team in the spring. If someone can explain to me why my coach is starting to freak out and yell at us about our enthusiasm and telling us that our water polo abilities are not up to par, why he is telling this to us now...I will give them a dollar. In order to win this dollar, you have to give me a reason so good, that I will go up to my coach and congratulate him for doing such a good job. That is very unlikely to happen. So, yeah.

Tomorrow I'm going to go to UCLA to listen to the wind ensemble there. yay! Go Bruins!

Today Pierre sent me a really touching story. I think everyone should read it...and I know some of you might think it's just sappy, but I think the lessons are really important:

"At a fund-raising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the school's students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended.
After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question.
"Everything God does is done with perfection. Yet, my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is God's plan reflected in my son?"
The audience was stilled by the query. The father continued. "I believe," the father answered, "that when God brings a child like Shay into the world, an opportunity to realize the Divine Plan presents itself. And it comes in the way people treat that child."
Then, he told the following story: Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they will let me play?" Shay's father knew that most boys would not want him on their team. But the father understood that if his son were allowed to play it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging.
Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance from his teammates. Getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said, "We are losing by six runs, and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him up to bat in the ninth inning." In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.
At the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the outfield. Although no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base. Shay was scheduled to be the next at-bat. Would the team actually let Shay bat at this juncture and give away their chance to win the game?
Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball. However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least be able to make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed.
The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly toward Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could easily have thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have ended the game.
Instead, the pitcher took the ball and threw it on a high arc to right field, far beyond reach of the first baseman. Everyone started yelling, "Shay, run to first. Run to first." Never in his life had Shay ever made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled "Run to second, run to second!" By the time Shay was rounding first base, the right fielder had the ball. He could have thrown the ball to the second baseman for a tag. But the right fielder understood what the pitcher's intentions had been, so he threw the ball high and far over the third baseman's head. Shay ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases towards home. As Shay reached second base, the opposing shortstop ran to him, turned him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third!" As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams were screaming, "Shay! Run home!" Shay ran home, stepped on home plate and was cheered as the hero, for hitting a "grand slam" and winning the game for his team.
"That day," said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, "the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of the Divine Plan into this  world."
Love, Laura

May 13, 2002