My youngest kid turned 21! On the day of, she celebrated with friends in paper party hats at the same bar I went to in college. Then she made a less fun choice and spent the weekend at a 24-hour reading of Moby Dick. (So not only was she up for like 40 hours straight, she was needing to stay awake while listening to Melville ramblings.) Some of her texts:
I don’t know if you've ever read this book but it's over 600 pages and could be 200 and a lot more exciting if there weren't so many encyclopedic whale facts and also side stories
we're currently hearing a side story within a side story
I don’t think tranquo, king of tranque is a real person
it's a good thing you never read this book you would hate it
most of the whale facts are not correct
On the bright side, she'll now be more informed when people ask her about her Herman Melville Memorial Chili Festival shirt. (This was an annual party thrown by friends of my parents' in the 80s; she found a commemorative t-shirt in the attic and wears it all the time.)
(Bonus: to report on a story she's writing for the school paper, she attended a meeting the University president held for retired professors whose health insurance the University will no longer cover. She said she "got a little carried away" and yelled at him, but it was "very satisfying." One of my professors (who never taught her) paid for a round of her birthday drinks to say thanks.)
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