I find myself on the cusp of one of my favorite
activities of the year, the annual birthday pub crawl back in my home town. Last
year’s was necessarily subdued for which 2020 bears all the responsibility for.
I only mentioned it to people who asked me about it and didn’t do any of the
usual reaching out. It was still a lot of fun even though I instructed my favorite
wing man, my Favorite Son, to stay away. This was the first one he had ever missed.
He'll be back for this one and it seems a lot of other people are planning on
attending. There is also a well-founded rumor that the Pittsburgh College Roommate
is making to the trek north to take part for the crawl for the first time. This
will, of course, mitigate the need to make a drunken phone call to him late in
the crawl however he has made pronouncements before about coming which have
always been for naught. I’ll believe it when he walks through the Cobblestone
Door.
Photos from Prior Crawls
The 2020 Crawl
I think some people assume this is some
sort of drunken rampage through the streets from people old enough to know better.
It is anything but that. It started out with just my son and I. Keene Friends
and the Cantankerous One are also early devotees but this will be the eleventh
straight year for the event. It kind of evolved into semi-high school class
reunion but as long as my son and friends as well as the odd Great Aunt and
Soxfather are along, I’m happy. It’s so much more about friendship and shared
experiences and just flat laughing together for an entire afternoon while
reveling in the company. Granted there are alcoholic beverages consumed (ask me
about my missing cousin story) but that has never been the point and is
certainly not required. Like I said, one of my favorite times of the year.
I stayed up later than usual last night.
I watched the Patriots’ game in which they continued their winning streak by dominating
an undermanned Falcons team, still haunted by the ole 28-3 Super Bowl curse. I’ll
never again complain about the Patriots’ offensive line after watching the Falcons’’
wretched effort in that department. It was a satisfying win as they face a
tough stretch ahead facing really good teams. The reason I stayed up late was
to see the first episode of the Wheel of Time television series. This is an
adaption of probably my favorite fantasy novels of all time and the only book
series I retained hard copies of when I went to reading form a Kindle. It was
like meeting old friends even though the casting was different from the characters
I always imagined all those years ago. The only ones who looked remotely like
what I thought they should were Moraine, Matt and Rand. That being said I immensely
enjoyed the show as, again, it felt like meeting old friends. I think a
re-reading of the series lies in my immediate future.
Finally, I accidently watched a video
yesterday that had tears streaming down my face, well, at least one snuck out.
It was a music video of the song, Soldier’s Gift, by Josh Turner. I’d never
heard of him or the song but I’ll try to show it here so you can see why it hit
home so effectively. I stumbled across the video on Facebook which is
constantly recommending videos. For some reason they think I want to see videos
of some Brazilian gal named Flavia who gives fashion tips in her underwear. Alright,
I guess that isn’t a real mystery, but every now and then I run across
something like this that touches my heart. Enjoy.
'Cause tonight there's a Soldier in a land far away. While children listen for bells on a sleigh. We've never met 'em, names not on our list. But you'll sleep well America, that's the Soldier's gift.
BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first
granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best
Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since
high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great
Aunt - my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue
about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten
whom I reunited with after many years; Pittsburgh
College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in
Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard
deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two
close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3rd musquetera
(musketeer); Riggins - also known as
the Grandpuppy, son's dog; PanaGals
– female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife
accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia
member, Favorite Panamanian - the
wife (of course); First Friday –
celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her
single days in Brooklyn
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