Graduation days

Dear Julie,

Buckminster Fuller, inventor of the geodesic dome, said everyone is born a genius. "The process of living de-geniuses them."

Genius has been all around this week visiting my sister Sally's family in Cincinnati. The high school our nieces Carly and Kim attend won the state baseball championship in Columbus Friday night. Actually it was Saturday morning by the time the game was over. Carly's boyfriend, Dustin, laid down a squeeze bunt that scored the first run in a 4-0 victory. He and his senior teammates had to forgo their graduation ceremony earlier in the day to prepare for the championship game, so the school board handed out their diplomas at home plate when the game was over. DC and I didn't know the players, but being there to see the joy on their faces and their parents faces was thrilling.

My parents and I are in Cincinnati for Carly's and nephew Kyle's graduations. Their parents' house is swarming with the activity of teenage girls on summer vacation. Carly, her sister Kim and their cousin Casey haven't been to bed before 2 a.m. since we got here. They wake up around noon and start thinking about what to do that day.

I remember being that free.

Sunday I went to Jack Nicklaus' tournament, the Memorial, near Columbus. Tiger Woods was playing. Though he wasn't contending for first place, watching him was still inspiring. I was only about 20 yards away when he teed off on the 17th hole. His ball whizzed overhead like a bottle rocket. All the golfers who played in the tournament hit the ball hard, but his shots sounded different.

When he's in the running for a championship, he concentrates at a depth few other golfers seem capable of reaching. This day he walked the fairway joking with the TV cameraman who followed him. No sense of defeat was on his face or in his step. He did not think any less of himself just because someone else prevailed this time.

More genius was K.J. Choi, the eventual winner, making difficult shots just to save par on the 16th, 17th and 18th holes. He'd made many birdies earlier in the day to take over the lead, but just holding your own while others are giving in to the pressure is another sign of genius.

When I walked in the front door back at Sally's house, her husband Doug was lying on the living room floor recreating the header our Grandma Ruby took off the step there many years ago. Carly's graduation party had turned into an evening of impromptu performances. My mom sang, my brother Scott played the piano.

Carly has a beautiful voice but insisted on singing with her back to the audience. My mom says performing in front of people you know is much scarier than performing before a roomful of strangers.

Kim, the soccer star who plans to become a doctor, and her friend Caitlin sang the words they wrote to the hip-hop song "Baby Got Back." "See Teddy over there, dancin', romancin', with a brother from Hansen, he's chocolate, he's chip, my granny needs a metal hip!"

Kyle and his girlfriend, Lindsey, demonstrated some of the improvisational comedy routines they perform at a theater near Ohio State. You wonder how a girlfriend or boyfriend will react to the idiosyncrasies of your family. Lindsey fit right in.

After graduating from Ohio State this weekend, Kyle plans to move to Chicago in the fall to study at Second City, the improv company that spawned Gilda Radner, John Belushi and others who ended up on "Saturday Night Live." He would be in the company of genius.

Genius is not knowing you're not supposed to be able to win state championships or golf tournaments or stand up in a crowded room all alone and perform. Genius is not something you have. It is a way of living.

Love, Sam

Sam Blackwell is managing editor of the Southeast Missourian.