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May 31, 2005 - Tuesday, 11:01 p.m.

In 1916, at the age of fifteen, my grandfather, Vernon, road the rails from North Dakota to California. It has a romantic sound to it, though I am sure it must have been quite an adventure. His father wasn�t a very nice man. The stories of this are limited, the only one I recall says that he hit the kids and that my great-grandmother once, with pitch fork in hand, pointed at my great-grandfathers chest, told him she�d run him through if he touched the kids again. I don�t know that he listened. Fed up with it, Vernon left and was gone for more then a year. However, when he returned home, in his father�s eyes he was a man, and he never touched him again. I�ve often wished that somewhere my grandfather would have written down this experience. Southern California, in 1916-17 would have been fascinating to hear about. I�m not even sure what work he did there, though I know he worked at something other then farming. However, nothing exists and the stories are far and few between.

It�s coming up on 11 pm and I really should go to sleep. My test went well tonight. I went and studied for a couple hours before the test with Dan, and it was much easier then I�d expected. Thank goodness!! It made for a very nice end to a very good day.

As blue as I was yesterday, I was surprised to wake up in a good mood this morning, but I did. After feeling hopeless, it was nice to wake up with hope in my heart again. Work passed without problems, and I had plenty of work to keep me busy all day. My big worry, that Phil would avoid me, didn�t come to pass. He arrived in my cube a couple hours after I got to work and we had a pleasant, comfortable conversation. I managed NOT to jump up and hug him. :o) I let Phil know that I have plans to go to the jam thing on Thursday night. He let me know that he�ll plan to be there, and if things change he�ll let me know. I gave him my number, so now he has that, in case things change at the last moment, which I don�t expect that they will. I have no real agenda, other then to spend some more time with him in some environment other then my cube at work. I�ve no idea what will happen as we go down this road, but I am content to let it unfold however it might, and hopefully enjoy myself in the process.

I�ve the windows open again, it�s cool outside. The wind is blowing softly through the trees. The house is quiet tonight. I think I may be able to sleep.

Sweet dreams.