I return the Malibu to the airport and Jess and I visit the bookstore where she picks up her cap and gown and I resist all urges to buy anything. I walk around campus a little and check in with a former professor, now the chair of the American Studies department, a former professor of mine. From there we meet the parents at Lyons and walk over to Washington Hall for the Arts & Letters awards presentations, where I know two other recipients from working with them on the school paper. Jess is recognized by the French department � to her surprise, which includes a check � as well as for her Summa Cum Laude distinction. Yeah, she�s the smart one in the family � Phi Beta Kappa, as a matter of fact.

Afterwards, at the reception on the Stonehenge courtyard (where Skalcoholiks played a few shows), that former professor of mine comes over to chat with us � Jess took one of his classes on the Great Depression � and then we�re off to the History department gathering. My plan for the weekend was to tell Jess when I should be where and what to wear. It was a low-hassle weekend as far as I was concerned; I wasn�t going to worry about much.

After the history shindig in the cramped lounge in O�Shaughnessy, we drive over to the Mishawaka Athletic Club on Lincolnway in old downtown Mishawaka with its diagonal parking spaces and old storefronts. There Jess and seven of her fellow Angers (sophomore year in France) classmates had planned a dinner for all their families. Joining us at our table with her parents and a sister was Lina (pronounced like Lynn-a) � the oldest of eight children (five daughters) from a Lithuanian family from Chicago. Her father�s a Domer and an ophthalmologist, and one of her sisters, Gaja (pronounced like Gaia), came too � the rest of the siblings to arrive the next day. At first I think the sister may be older than Lina � she looks at least 20 � but I learn she�s finishing her sophomore year. Of high school. She desperately wants to come to Notre Dame, though, and so we talked about what she needs to do to get in � her father�s diploma already a good start, not to mention all her extracurricular and service activities outside of school, many Catholic-based.

But anyway, one of the things that fascinates me about this family � aside from the fact that they�re all so good looking they could be a model family in top-of-the-line clothing catalog � is their perfect Chicago accents while speaking English that disappears beneath the authentic Lithuanian sound that emerges when they speak that language. It was interesting, really.

After dinner, we return to campus and the dance at the Joyce Center Field House, meeting up with some of Jessica�s Lyons friends. I spend most of the time looking around for the few people I might know (I talk with a now former Observer news editor who wrote a column chastising the university for inviting President Bush to speak at commencement mainly for the prestige, while citing the choice of Indiana Lt. Governor Joe Kernan three years before as a less popular selection at first, but a more noble one in the end). When I walk over to the bar for refills on our drinks, I look over while standing in line and notice Kathy, David and their family from Tennessee right there. It wasn�t even hard � there they were, right near the bar.

I have no desire to dance � none of my family really did � so after Kathy and I catch up on things and talk about our own graduation, she and her family go off to the dance floor and we head out, ready for bed.