One of my students, Ben, who is in Royal Fools, turned eighteen this week. His mother works for CVCA, and she and her husband thought it would be a great birthday celebration to invite all the men at CVCA who had a special relationship with Ben to go out to a surprise group dinner at Rockne’s (a local chain restaurant). I was free, and I greatly admire Ben, so I readily said yes.

What was really fun was that we had a Royal Fools practice Wednesday right before dinner, and so I saw Ben at practice and then again at supper forty minutes later. He was completely surprised, and it was a great time. There were about twenty of us there, and I like my colleagues, so I had a lot of fun. The food and fellowship were excellent, and I think Ben was pleased we were all there.

Lest you think Mer was ignored, I did buy her some soup (she likes Rockne’s soups) on the way out of the restaurant.