You know, baked beans, cream pie, tea party, strangler...

So, last weekend, my parents, Jen, Jules, Debby and Eric, Jimmy, Sherry, and I, and of course Lisa and Gary, went to Boston to see Nicole graduate from med school and take on the mantle of Dr. Payne. Oh, wait, I just realized how that sounds. James has probably been teasing her about that for years, and I only just got it. Good thing Nik has the kind of bright smiling countenance that will dispel any fear her name might drive into patients’ hearts. We all had a wonderful time. We got to meet Alex and his parents (all lovely, delightful people) and we got to see Nik get her diploma, recite the Hippocratic Oath, and toss her cap in the air. It was a really cool ceremony. When they handed out the diplomas, they allowed each graduate’s family to come up on stage for a photo. We had 15 people up there, which was almost the record. (Yes, I was counting, in the hopes that we would have the largest group, because that is the kind of person I am.)

Some of us toured the Sam Adams Brewery that day, while others of us got lost in Cambridge and never found the brewery at all, because all the streets in Cambridge have the exact same names as the streets in Boston, clearly because Bostonians like to see tourists get hopelessly lost in the city outskirts.

The next day we walked the Freedom Trail, a red line cleverly painted along the sidewalks of Boston that you can follow like Dorothy and Toto, and it takes you to all the major historic sites. You know why they do this? Because no one would ever make it out of Boston if there wasn’t an actual trail to follow. All the tourists would give up and just camp on the streets. I think the colonists set up the town in the most confusing manner possible and then named all the streets the same name in order to confuse the British troops in the hopes that they would say, “Oh, the heck with this! If we ever find our way out of this city, let’s just leave this place to the rebels.” And then once the Brits hightailed it back to England, the colonists just forgot to correct the problem. Witness:



Now, I ask you, what is one to make of that?

We did have a lovely time, though. We rode the Swan Boats in the Boston Common lagoon. Well, most of us did. Jimmy decided he was too manly to ride in a bird boat, and Eric stayed behind to keep him company. We saw the Massachusetts State House and were blinded by the sun glinting off the 23 carat gold-covered dome. We saw the spot where the Boston Massacre took place. My dad bought me some roasted peanuts there. I ate them in honor of Crispus Attucks.

I got to tour Paul Revere’s home and realized that “spacious” and “high-ceilinged” in colonial days means neither spacious nor high-ceilinged in the present day. Nicole and Julia played peek-a-boo over the box pew walls in the Old North Church. And we had delicious seafood at the No Name Restaurant down by the harbor. Then we returned to the hotel where I promptly collapsed from exhaustion.

Thanks Nicole, for inviting us to share your special day!