Adult Daughters

Few joys exceed meeting one's adult daughters for lunch on a warm spring afternoon. Valerie (right), who's marrying Mark in October, with her father serving as officiant, was back from a three-day parks and recreation conference in Long Beach. She works for the Yorba Linda community center and discloses that Amy Poehler has become living patron saint of an entire generation of municipal employees, or at least those charged with planning nonsectarian Santa breakfasts.

Lindsay will be graduated from Long Beach State in May and is thinking about parlaying her degree in political theory (she has been known to mention Rousseau, Locke, and Mao in polite conversation) into a career serving those at need, which will be easy given her brains and openness of mind and heart. When I asked for a little help for the tip, she said apologetically, "I gave my last dollar to a homeless person."

We lingered happily over lunch and in the sunshine on the sidewalk. Reluctant to leave Fullerton, which everyone in Orange County loves or should, Valerie and Lindsay asked if I wanted to go for some additional refreshment. I declined and asked for another kiss. After Valerie changed out of her parks and rec shirt in the back of her VW, they wandered away together, past the Fullerton museum with its permanent exhibit on local hero Leo Fender. Adult daughters! Life is good.