More great news from great kids

We received a phone call yesterday with some wonderful news.

Our son Virgile, who has been traveling in Europe, told us that his security clearance had been completed and he would officially be starting his job with the Foreign Service in the middle of September.

He's also getting married this fall, and Sterling Miller (shown in the picture with Virgile) will be a wonderful wife for him and daughter-in-law for us.

As difficult as it is to become a foreign service officer, it makes me doubly proud that both of my children have qualified. Pauline had already been employed by the State Department for more than five years and has completed tours in Africa and in China.

Pauline is amazing in some of the same ways her mother is amazing. She's got incredible drive and the determination to do things correctly, and she has developed wonderful people skills. I know from her evaluations that she shows us that she is very highly esteemed by her employers, and it manifested itself in the fact that she has already received tenure in her job.


For all her good qualities, it has been the last year that she has really blossomed as a person. Having a baby and becoming a mother seems to have made my daughter's life complete.

Little Maddie has added so much to all our lives, and the joy I feel from being twice a parent and once a grandparent is more than I could possibly have imagined.

For all my pride in them, and all my pleasure in the times I have been called a good father, I know I am very lucky. I have friends who have done their very best and haven't had the same results. I am well aware that you can't really be called a good parent unless you have good children.

I don't have good children -- I have wonderful children.

Neither one of them has ever done anything really bad, and any parenting I had to do was usually just nudging them in the right direction once in a while.

I am a very lucky man.