I blew it on my graduation from UCI. I sorta didn’t make up for it with my graduation from Pepperdine. So this time I came prepared. I’ve never been known for my brevity, so if you get antsy, this is not the speech for you. I’ve worked hard for the past 14 years in higher education, 7 of those in my doctoral program. I’ve sat through many a boring 3 hour lectures – I think you could sit for the 15 minutes and let me have my say. Kids, please keep quiet – your parents will explain what this all means 10 years from now.

My first introduction to graduate school, and actually how I have approached it since, came from one of my favorite movies, the Robin Williams classic “The World According To Garp”. Garp is walking with his son in their bear costumes on Halloween.
His boy asks “What’s gradual school?”
Garp, taken by surprise buys time and says, “Huh?”
His boy elaborates “Mom says she teaches students at gradual school.”
Garp pins it on the nose ‘Oh…Gradual school is where you gradually go to school and realize that you don’t want to go to school anymore.”

Many people want to know what I’m going to do after I graduate – I could get a job, I could find a place to sit around and have people call me “Dr. Singer” all day; I could develop a new therapeutic technique with these, I could go to swanky, packed restaurants and see how quickly I get a table for 2 for “Dr. Singer”; I could maybe do a study on why pigs have little beady eyes; or I could ponder why hot dogs come in packages of 12 and buns come in packages of 8. I can’t honestly tell you what I will be doing – but you can be guaranteed that it will be for the betterment of personkind.

You know, the whole course of my educational career reminds me of something a great philosopher once said. Yes…it’s Chauncey Gardner. He starts by saying "In a garden, growth has its season. First comes Spring and Summer, but then we have Fall and Winter. And THEN we get Spring and Summer again!" Each new quarter or semester of my schooling started out fresh and new, the spring and summer…and then things got rough with the coursework and tests, the fall and winter…but then, alas, everything was over and we went back to the beginning, starting a new quarter – spring and summer once again. And then, once again, things get rough – back to Fall and Winter.

Chauncey continues, "It is possible for everything to grow strong, and there is plenty of room for new trees and new flowers of all kinds." He is saying here, I believe allegorically, that it is possible for me to get smarter and learn more. There is plenty of room in my brain for more information, and I will always be learning new things.

Chauncey then declares, "A garden needs a lot of care and a lot of love and if you give your garden a lot of love, things grow...but first some things must wither, some trees and fresh young saplings take their place and for this reason, you can watch that garden become very beautiful." You can’t take school lightly. You must constantly be involved and studying. If you do get a bad grade on a test or paper,that is “wither”…you always have the next test or paper to get back to where you want to be. And you can watch yourself flourish in that class.

Gardner ends his exposition with, "The garden needs a lot of care...it is a good garden."
Shall I state the obvious? You need to be mindful of your education. Education is good.

Chauncey, as everyone knows, was dead-on concerning his findings. However, I need to modify and elaborate on his theory in relation to my analogy. See…once my education is done, once I have been through the Fall and theWinter and the Spring and the Summer of my schooling – an interesting thing happens. “The Real World” begins. And in this “Real World”, like people tell me, Fall and Winter and Spring and Summer all blend in to one. In one day, I hear, you can start your day in the spring and summer, go to work and have your fall and winter, and come back home to your Spring and Summer. Am I ready for this daily changing of the seasons?? You know it! Higher Education has prepared me for 14 years!

Now…I’m not afraid to admit it. And I’m not egostical by saying it…but this is a very landmark day. 16 years ago, with me facing death in a coma, and then blabbering ridiculous nonsense from having a brain injury, my parents were taken aside and given the hard, cold facts: “He won’t be the same Larry you know”.

I hate to admit it, but they were right…I wasn’t a Dr. then!!

Which brings me to another way in which I foiled the “experts”. Some of you know this, but may have forgotten. Others – this will floor you. I’ve been a client of the Department of Rehabilitation since I got out of the hospital and returned back to school in 1989 (to the utter dismay of the professionals working with me). The Department of Rehabilitation was not too keen on my goal as a psychologist. They are happy to purchase a hair net and a bus pass for their client to work at del Taco. They are not used to ambitious people like yours truly. They finally agreed to allow me to return to school at UCI since “it would only be 2 more years”. When I was done, my counselor wanted to know if I was ready for a job. I wanted to get my Master’s, which they could not support (my counselor told me you don’t need a Master’s to get a job…I could do her job with a bachelor’s (side note: she had a Master’s)). I footed the bill for the first year, and after getting excellent grades, they agreed to support me (probably because they wanted to call me their success story). After my Master’s, my counselor wanted to know if I was ready for a job. I told her I wanted to get my doctorate. At this point, they needed a reason to turn my request down.

Since I had a head injury, and I wasn’t “going to be the same Larry”, the first place to look is in my brain. If anything, this would be rehab’s trump card to turn me down. I was tested by an intern with her Master’s (we may as well have been schoolmates doing a school project). She was supervised by a neuropsychologist who signed off her report.

The report came back, and it was an exercise in misinterpretation, overinterpretation, and ‘reading too much into someone’s actions or comments”.

Let me share some of this report with you. The intern writes:
Mr.Singer reported in the interview that he had ‘no difficulty’ with any of his mental abilities at present. He stated that a previous neuropsychological examination had revealed ‘temporary’ memory deficits, but these were resolved now. However, his symptom questionnaire results were not always consistent with his verbal reports. On the questionnaire he completed at home, he endorsed only a few symptoms in the areas pertaining to sensory loss common to paralysis. On another questionnaire, he reported “trouble remembering things”, “difficulty making decisions” (hmmmm…do I go to souplantation or soup exchange tonight?), “awakening in the early morning” (if you were waking up a 6 am for your attendent to do 2 hours worth of getting you ready, would you call that “early morning”?), “having ideas or beliefs that others do not share” (Thank GOODNESS for that!), “getting into frequent arguments” (well…that depends on your definition of frequent…once or twice a month, sure), and “shouting out or throwing things” (well that was a loaded question, cause they added ‘throwing things’ in…but I have shouted before…once or twice…right Mom & Dad?)
She goes on to say:
Again in conflict with the above reports, Mr. Singer reported no personality or mood changes since his accident when asked during the interview with the examiner. Mr. Singer volunteered that he was “the same nice and happy guy” before the accident “as he was now”.

OOOOO…look out. The denial’s in full swing now!

She continues:
However, he added that he “appreciates everything more” now, since he “should have died” in the accident.

Does he have a death wish…is he depressed to the point of suicide.or is he simply making an intelligent observation that he should have died because he was breathing 3 breaths a minute and lost 67 pints of blood in the accident? You make the call.

I won’t bore you with the details of the report, as it’s filled with a lot of subjective observations, misinterpretations, and overreliance on textbook diagnoses, although it does include some gems such as:
Mr. Singer was distractable at times during memory testing, reporting that he had trouble “ignoring the cars” outside the window (side note: this was a therapist to therapist observation that this probably wasn’t the best environment to test people in because directly outside the open window were 55 MPH cars and a busy airport runway that could be distracting to some people). He also appeared to be experiencing mental fatigue during a lengthy problem solving task, even to the extent that his eyes appeared lazy. However, when asked if he were tired, Mr. Singer denied it (hey….i’ve been accused of having bedroom eyes before). Finally, Mr. Singer repeated two stories or sets of facts about his accident during the course of the testing procedure, relating them as if he had never told them to the examiner before.”

C’mon…didn’t she know I was GG’s future grandson-in-law!

Then she says
He became visibly mentally fatigued during the fifth subtest and lost attentional set for the operating rule at times. This was further evidenced by the fact that Mr. Singer made the majority of his 19 total errors in that one subtest. If this was Mr. Singer’s best complex solving performance during a structured testing situation, the examiner had the impression that such skills would not serve him at Average in the stimulus-rich natural environment.

Everyone..please do me a favor tonight…keep the noise and fun to a minimum, as we don’t want to overload my brain!

Then, this Einstein goes on to say:
Thus, it is hypothesized that the circumstances related to Mr. Singer’s surviving problem solving and reasoning skills, in combination with his use of a computerized day planner, provided academic notes, and other school helps which are justified by his physical injury, have served as extensive rehabilitative mental aides

Ummm..layperson’s terms – he uses the same tools as everyone else to organize his life.

Such aides have likely allowed Mr. Singer to successfully obtain a master’s degree and are responsible for the structuring of his everyday life and resulting high level of independence.

That’s right..credit the day planner rather than Mr. Singer’s (err…now “Dr. Singer”’s) intellect. Yeah…it’s amazing how you can program these day planners to take tests and write papers and get As!

Over time, it is likely that Mr. Singer’s subjective experience related to actual deficits has been greatly minimized, such that he can verbally report “no difficulty” with his mental abilities. Such a view of himself may also provide Mr. Singer with the ability to maintain a positive mood state and a progressively improved level of independence since his injury, despite tragic losses of function during the prime of his life.

I’ll translate this one for you, I took Psychobabble 101: this poor S.O.B. is in some hardcore denial and he ain’t ever getting out!

You know…writing this speech and coming across this line really got me irked. It really bugs me when able-bodied society looks at us in wheelchairs and feels sorry for our sad and pathetic state…and feels we must be sad and miserable to be in this position. It’s not my view of “no difficulty with my mental abilities” that keeps me going. What keeps me going is everyone in this room, The fact that I finished my bachelor’s and master’s, and now I’m Dr. Singer. The fact that I have found my soulmate. All the good times I have – every great concert I see. Every new wonderful person I meet. The fact that when my birthday comes around every year, my mom can come and give me a hug and kiss and wish me “Happy Birthday” in person instead of putting flowers on a gravestone. THAT’S what allows me to maintain a positive mood! In one sweep in this judgmental paragraph, the intern completely minimized my experience to a textbook diagnosis of denial!

Alright…here’s the clincher. The conclusion
However, his ability to sustain success within a competitive level doctoral program, given his continuing residual cognitive difficulties is questionable. He has already overcome remarkable disabilities so his potential for overcoming further obstacles is not entirely predictable.

That’s a lot more psychobabble, so let me translate this for you in layperson’s terms:
We’ve spent 6 hours giving these tests, you’ve spent $5,000 for these tests, we spent 30 hours interpreting the results and writing the report…
….and we can’t tell you how Mr. Singer will perform in a doctoral program.

Well, you each can make $5,000 and be a neuropsychologist for a day if you can answer this question, and we’ll measure this by applause: Can Mr. Singer succeed in a doctoral-level program?

Now those of you who are psychology people are saying “what a narcissist”

There are many people who went into the making of this monster. If you are here, consider yourself one of them. I’ve got a few people I need to personally thank. This might take a while, so please be quiet and patient. Once again, I’ve been working for 14 years to get to this point and want to express what I need to express, so I don’t regret it later on. If you have a problem with this, YOU go through 14 years of schooling and get YOUR doctorate and I’ll give you all the time in the world to do whatever you want! If I leave anybody out, don’t worry – you were invited to my party so that should be recognition enough. I put on the invitation “No presents, just your presence” for a reason. Your presence is my present. This is so cool…I have all different people from all the different aspects of my life in one room!

Mom & Dad- A great orator once said that in all the great literature of the world, there existed no more heroic characters than Joyce & Sandy Singer, my Mom & Dad. You both are truly the reason I am here today. Your love, support, encouragement and care have helped me through very hard and stressful times, and I am grateful for you! Mom & Dad…I’ve got something for you here. I’m not the only one who should get recognition. It’s a plaque for you that states: Certificate of Achievement - Let it be known on this 17th day of November Dr. Sanford Singer and Joyce Singer May now proudly proclaim; Our Son, The Doctor.

Deblyn & Connie- Your music has helped inspire me and keep me rockin’ through the hard times – and your concerts were a well deserved reward (and an excellent diversion). Your friendship and support has really meant a lot to me. Everyone – get on their mailing list, check out their website (www.zoeystrip.com), buy their CDs – one day you’ll be able to say “Hey…I saw that band at Larry’s graduation!”

Clarisse Ventura from Dayle MacIntosh Center – Clarisse you helped me write the PASS that got me the computer, that helped me write the dissertation, that helped me graduate. And, I got a good friend out of all of that. Thank you Clarisse!

Dr.Nalbach- your encouragement and being an excellent (achemm!!) Role model has helped shape me into the competent therapist I am today. Now that I truly am a Dr., maybe we can fine tune a technique together and co-author a treatment using these. And Dr. Nalbach…I’d like to present this to you. It says: Presented to Dr. George Nalbach in recognition of his tremendous influence on Dr. Larry Singer. Graduation 2002. Please…display it in your office proudly!

Marian – Your friendship through the years has been unbelievable. One time, when I was in the hospital fighting for my life, you had said that I was your best friend. I was taken aback by this, because I had never had ANYONE say they were my “best friend”. I know that my school and your work have taken up our respective time, but know that deep down in my heart, you have a best friend for life. Your support and faith and strength go beyond what would be expected from a friend!

Kelley- Thank you for coming out for this celebration. You were an important presence during the first couple years of my new life, and your support, love, and friendship through the years has been immeasurable. Even though we have many miles between us (we have said this before) we have the kind of friendship that we could not talk or see each other for years at a time, and pick right up where we left off.

Dianna Knox and Neil Bahan…you were both essential at the beginning of my new life ensuring that all my legal matters were taken care of. With your help, I know I will have a fulfilling life and be able to do anything I want both professionally and otherwise. I also appreciate your continued interest in my development – and maybe one day I’ll be proficient enough to be an expert witness for you.

There are many people who have come and gone in my doctorate program. Three people who I had suffered with…er, I mean taken classes with are here. J.D. Brock – I had taken one of my first classes with you - statistics. The first night of class, while introducing ourselves around the room, you mentioned that you world rather call the class Sadistics. Well, I thought you were a real fireball that night and got to know you, and have been great friends ever since. Pat Craig –we’ve had quite a few classes together. I’ve really felt your support every step of the way. And you were so kind and generous during the time that I was stuck in bed healing.. And Dick Ettleson – some of you know Rabbi Dick from the union of Terry and I. We’ve kept in touch through the years, and I really enjoy our friendship – and I’m glad you’re here. I really cherish my friendship with all of you

My siblings and their families: Dave, Ellen, and Kyle and Teri, Ken, and Joshua – thank you for all of your love and support and cheering on each and every step of the way. I’m really glad that you were all able to e here, and I am proud to be your brother. Thank you all for everything you have done over the years.

GG: The Matriarch. I am so glad you are here. When I entered the family circle you so easily accepted me. And when, after meeting you, the only complaint of me you had to Terry was that I was ‘ferociously independent” – I knew I was in good favor. You always tell me about how amazed you are by my accomplishments – but know that that is not a one-way street. Your tenacity, resilience, and unwillingness to hear “you can’t do that, Jean Desmond” have been inspiring to me. Everyone…if you want an engaging book to read, I urge you to place an order for GG’s book. You will not be disappointed!

Jessica- You have the distinction of travelling the furthest for this joyous occasion. Your acceptance and genuine love of me really make me feel welcome. I am really honored to have you as part of my family.

Jarrett Malone – We go way far back – all the way to 6th grade. We were in MGM together (yeah…mentally gifted morons). Being friends with you Jarrett was great because we were the “smart kids” yet we still had fun – I had invited Mrs. Vassos here tonight but she couldn’t come – but I’m sure she would have wanted to probe us to find out exactly how it was that the pair of scissors ended up mangled on the field. And Jarrett – you also took me to UCI for my first time, which obviously had a lasting impression on me. Thanks for coming out tonight,

Who here has worked for me – non-family. Do you see these people? They’ve been responsible for getting me up and/or putting me to bed through part of my schooling. They’re to be applauded because they’ve worked some god-awful hours to ensure that I am ready for the day – which was an essential part of me getting through school. And, I’ve become friends with these, and other people who have worked for me. There’s Mike and Christine.

Maggie, Jack, and Larry from my internship site, ASF. You all have been strong supporters of me both educationally – and when I was having that, uh, little minor health problem – the pressure sore. Maggie – believe it or not – you had an influence on me finishing this up. When I stopped interning at the counseling center, and later stopped facilitating the Monday night group, it was couched in the terms “so I could finish my dissertation”. And of course, every time I saw you after that, your first question was always “How’s your dissertation”. So not only do I have Terry, grandpa Jack, and my parents to answer to…but now I’ve got Maggie hounding me. Well…I wanted to see you again Maggie, so I HAD to finish! I thank you all for being great friends and all of your support.

Chris and Rosaleen- Well, as Terry says, you ‘came with’ her…but now I’m proud to say that you belong to me. You both really have been an amazing source of support and strength for both Terry and me.

Aunt Marcia, Wendy, and Madeline- Thank you so much for being wonderful supporters and all of your love. And Auntie..you really have a genuine interest in me, Terry, and Lynlea and I appreciate that

Cindy Beaupre: I am so happy to have you here, because you hold a large responsibility for the completion of my dissertation. After I had been told by “experts” that it might take 6 months, a year, or even longer to heal the sore that had bedridden me for 9 months already, you came to me with a treatment that healed me in 6 weeks time. It was amazing! You took the phrase “Get off your butt and write your dissertation” to its extreme.

Where’ s the Wild Oats bunch? Well, actually there's only Tim Myers – the captain of the Motley Crew. And I had them all fooled at Wild Oats. Each morning when I came in you THOUGHT I was working on my dissertation on adjustment to spinal cord injury. ….those days I brought my computer in…yep - those were observation days. I was actually writing a case study on the psychological profile of the Wild Oats employees. And boy! If you saw the results!
I’ve got a certificate for you here. It says “Certificate – Presented to Wild Oats Irvine Voted the #1 place in Irvine by our panel to sit and have coffee and write a dissertation”. Well…it was only a panel of one judge, but that’s all that matters, right?

Mike & Isla – no longer with Wild Oats…but that’s where we became friends. You guys are awesome! Thanks for all of your support.

Tim Milius – you also “came with” Terry, but we have forged a friendship that is separate, but equal, with the one you have with Terry. I’m so glad to have you in my life.

Peter Lipschultz- I’ve known you from back when I had one of my internships for my Master’s at the Dayle McIntosh Center. Peter…will you stand up so everyone can see you? You’ve been a great friend, and actually you’re inspiring to me. Kinda like that cartoon I had on the invitation. I’m glad you’re here.

Terry, Nita, and Ability Center – thanks for keeping me up and running and on the road! The time I spent in your shop I could be a doctor 3 times over…but now with my new homegrown Ability Center van, I know I will be problem free on my way to becoming a licensed clinical psychologist.

Tony Gonzalez- You’ve been in my life since my pre-quad Mrs. Field’s Cookies days and have been a strong supporter of me since. I appreciate our continued friendship.

Bob & Lois – Though we just met two weeks ago, I can tell that we will be long lasting friends…and I’m glad that you were able to come to this on such a short notice.

Stacey Johnson– I am so glad you’re here. Back at UCI, you me and Elizabeth were the terrible trio in our psychology classes (were in mixed company, so I won’t reveal our real nickname). I’m very honored that you were able to come and enjoy this celebration.

Toby – going through Pepperdine with you really made the experience memorable. Your kindness and generosity in setting your schedule with mine to give me rides was the ultimate act of unselfishness, and you should be commended for it. Had you not been around, Pepperdine would not have been the same. Certainly George Nalbach’s class would not have been the same without the dynamic duo. And I treasure our continuing friendship.

Aunt Sheila and Uncle Eddie- Thank you for all of your support over the years and your cheering of me each step of the way, and especially thank you for bringing Grandpa Jack.

R.J. You have supervised me through a couple of my placements and helped me see things I couldn’t see, and I value your knowledge and friendship.

Lynlea- I said this to you the night that I passed my oral defense and you kind of blew me off, so I’ll reiterate. I hope you learned something from my experience, which is that you can accomplish any realistic goal you set your mind to, through persistence, patience, and hard work. Thank you for always being there through this whole process and believing in me.

And Lynlea’s friend…Katie – I’m glad you could come to this. It may be kind of a boring adult thing, but I hope you also will take from this that anything can be accomplished through hard work and persistence, and the pay-off could be extraordinary.

Well…those of you who REALLY know me, know I am far from being a sports fiend. But I gotta say…and I even said it in my acknowledgements in my paper…I gotta thank the Anaheim Angels for having a winning season to coincide with my winning season. They really gave me something to reward each of my accomplishments with. Turned in my rough draft, they beat the Yankees; passed my oral defense, they beat the Twins; turned in my final draft, they won the Series.

Dr. Shari Sweetnam - We’ve been great friends since you advised me and helped me through my program. Shari and I actually started doing radio together after my other radio partner fizzled, but our own commitments pre-empted our continuing the program. BUT, we have talked about doing it later on, so maybe one day - Drs. Shari and Larry!

Thomas- Well…you “warmed up” Terry for me by dancing with her a couple months before we met…and then you were the cupid who organized the event that brought us together, and we are forever grateful to you for that. And you’ve been along with me for quite a lot of my educational ride, and I appreciate all of your support

Christine Honeyman-Fazio – my dear hummingbird. You came in to my world through your project “Changes” which I was performer in. You re-entered my world to help my family cope with the most major change any family should have to go through. You unselfishly giving of yourself day in and day out those first few months was a monumental and unprecedented gesture. You were a major influence on me in those days, and you remain to this day and beyond. One of the reasons I became interested in this field was so I could one day help someone as you had helped me. Not many people know this, but I DEFINITELY remember it – even though I was fading in and out of states of consciousness alternating with states of drug-outedness. One day, you brought in with you a hummingbird figurine. You told me that I reminded you of a hummingbird because, and I quote, according to science hummingbirds aren’t supposed to fly. You likened me to a hummingbird because I had conquered medical science from
1) being alive
2) surviving such a horrible accident, and
3) having my mental faculties intact.
Well, I think today, with this accomplishment, we can add one more thing to that list.

Mikel Bistany- I’ve known you for many years taking your workout class at Irvine Valley College. I think it’s great that you have equipment for disabled people to workout – and with it so accessible to them And having you as an instructor has been a real pleasure for me. And I appreciate the interest and pride you take in me, as well as all of your students.
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Dr. McCormick- I am so glad you are here to celebrate with me. You were definitely one of my favorite teachers at Pepperdine and really had an influence on me to further my education. It was quite serendipitous running into you earlier this year at my office…er, I mean Wild Oats. I was kind of embarrassed to tell you I was ABD while I was sitting there reading one of my diversionary music magazines. You had asked me if I “hit that wall yet”. You asking me that made me realize that the process and pitfalls of writing a dissertation are common to all doctoral students…that there is a wall that ALL students hit. Your parting words to me were “break through that wall”. Well…I went home, put on Pink Floyd and started writing and didn’t stop til I was done.

Rachel & Daws- I’m so glad you both could come! Rachel - we’ve been friends since high school and have seen each other grow and progress and I think it’s wonderful that we can still be friends!

Fred McCabe- You and I have been friends from DMC days. I was always amazed how you seem to get around so effortlessly and managed to complete your licensure for becoming an MFCC. I am impressed with your accomplishments.

Dave Ward – We’ve known each other on and off through the years in Mikel’s workout class at IVC and I’ve often been impressed by your ability to effectively live independently and work – and manage to have an active social life. You have definitely given me a role model to strive for and I appreciate that.

Frank and Shari – Wow! I’m so glad you both were able to come. You’ve known me for all my life and have really seen me progress, so this must be like seeing your own child accomplish something. I’m really glad you’re here and I hope you’ll be able to come to my next landmark achievement…whatever that may be.

There are a few people who have come into my life because of my disability, and we have become long-time friends in spite of my disability – to the point that the reason we first made contact has dissipated completely. We have one of them here today.

Mauri-Lynn Heller: Who passed her licensing exam on Wednesday and is now an MFCC! You were Dr.DeNecochea’s assistant and I had contact with you to get forms signed for disability reasons – special accomodations to take the tests. We instantly bonded and I am very proud to consider you a friend. In an intellectually famished world, you are a grand buffet.

Mr. McGinnis – Well…unfortunately, no matter how many letters I have in front of my name or after my name, you’ll always be “Mr. McGinnis” to me. I’m real happy that you were able to come today. You’ve been a strong supporter of me ever since I played Cab Driver #1 or Lumberjack #3 in your plays. I may not have been the greatest actor, but the skills you taught me helped me perform in the theater of life. Doing things like this. I value our continued friendship and appreciate your genuine interest and pride in things that are going on in my life.

Catherine & Joe – I LOVE your place, and have loved coming since you opened 8 (?) years ago. I know that we paid to have this party here, but I feel from you two that there is a lot more behind it than just a business deal. I feel the love and true genuine care you guys put in to this place every time I’m here. In all honesty, you were my only choice for a place to have my party. Every time I have out-of-towners, or people who haven’t been here – my first choice is the Gypsy Den. I’ve actually created a few Gypsy Junkies, and I hope we turn some of these people who haven’t been here before on to your wonderful restaurant. Thanks for having us!

Clay- You’re the ultimate Gypsy Den server. We love having you with your smile and hug. Thanks for being such a great server, as well as a wonderful friend and support over the years.

Grandma Sally – thanks for controlling the weather and ensuring I had a dry 14 years of schooling.

Grandpa Joe – thank you for making sure that I had a working wheelchair and working van to get through my schooling. Grandpa Joe was also essential in my first year back at UCI, as he unselfishly gave of himself to drive me to school every morning.

Grandpa Jack – You’ve been one of my greatest cheerleaders ever since I began my career path back in…..uh….. pre-school. You have always had an interest in my latest going-ons and have forced me to one-up myself so I would have something interesting and more extraordinary than the last thing to tell you each time I saw you. I’m so glad you’re here, of everyone, to enjoy this occasion. I wish grandma Vivian was here with you, but I know she’s just as happy and elated as you are. Grandpa Jack. I have something here for you ….yeah…you all thought I was going to do a magic trick! Grandpa…you passed on to us one Passover a chain, which represented our family – interlinked and unbroken. Well grandpa, I’m giving this to you – it’s engraved with the words: The unbroken Singer chain – Presented to Jack & Vivian Singer Dr. Larry Singer’s Graduation 2002. What you didn’t realize at the time, was that it represents more than just our family. It represents our strength; our tenacity; our perseverance – all things you either directly passed down to us, or passed down through your kids.

And Terry….my dear sweet Terry. The love of my life. My Soulmate. Before you came in my life, things were satisfying…life was o.k….but I was missing a big chunk – romantic love and a partner to share life with. From the second we met, you easily filled that missing part, and it hasn’t been empty since. I appreciate all the love and support you have given me. I love how we are so easily able to tend each other’s needs – and so unselfishly. You are the ultimate reason I was able to successfully complete my program. And now you are in the midst of undertaking your schooling. And I hope you know that you have my utmost support in your endeavor. And for all of your support over the past 5 years, I have something to present to you. This says “Certificate of Acheivement – This is to certify that Terry Michaels may now officially be called ‘Mrs.Dr.’”. I love you terry and thank you for a wonderful party!!

Alright…I’ve had my say. It’s open mic time – so anyone that wants to step up to the mic and say a few words is welcome to.