I do feel really good. And also a little bit tired. But I’ll get to that in a second, and you’ll know why this dispatch came out a little later than is customary.
I often say “old friends are the best” for one simple reason: they are. I’m blessed to have a number of old friends, and I’m grateful for how those friendships manifest in the tapestry of my life—sometimes in big bold patterns, other times in a pop of color, and yet other times as a barely discernible but important detail…every thread and every stitch crucial to the big picture. Plotted over time, these friendships look quite different…peaks and valleys, divergences, upward trajectories, straight steady lines…but the most important thing is the certain something they all share, namely that the lines extend through today, providing a very special kind of structure and strength and support to my current existence. I mention the importance of old friends once again today because I am currently in the midst of an adventure of a weekend with one such old friend, and it finds me both having a tremendous amount of fun and reflecting with appreciation that some almost 40 years after first laughing together, here we are…laughing together. Which brings me to today’s feel-good Friday post, and what I am specifically feeling good about today.
The pandemic is still of global concern and though we’re both vaccinated, traveling doesn’t come without calculated risk. But when we did the math, Kerri and I felt comfortable that taking this long-weekend trip was worth it. Yes, a lot has changed since we first booked it…but we’ll be smart, we’ll be as safe as we can, and we’re enjoying our first flying trip together in too long. The balancing act continues…you often put your physical health at more risk when you try to take care of your mental health. Overprotect your physical health and that comes with a cost, often to mental health. So making informed decisions is, IMO, the way to go when it comes to dealing with so much (conflicting) info, political rhetoric, and personal circumstance. So I feel good about the series of decisions and conversations that got us here. The travel was interesting. Masked up, Kerri and I could barely communicate with one another. And we were both really rusty. I kept panicking that I had lost my luggage or that it had been stolen. I had to keep reminding myself that I had checked it, and it was fine. Kerri’s precheck had expired so I went through the regular security line with her…and we went through the process like a couple of country bumpkins. My bag needed secondary screening once (can’t keep your iPad in the bag, who remembered?) and Kerri needed it twice (who knows why?). At least we both knew enough to take our shoes off. 🤷♀️
Wondering where exactly is the “here” about which I am typing? I’m in the Tampa-St. Pete area, on a spit of land (a barrier island) which according to Google maps is called Bellaire Beach. We came here with one primary purpose, to attend last night’s Post-Super-Bowl-Win Opening Day Game of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and TB12 (and Gronk!). We also had several critical secondary purposes, like visiting with Gina and Carol and partaking in a long-overdue “Wine Fest/Wine Night.” (More on that later.) But anyway, that’s the here and now that I find myself in. And even though it’s still Summer at home, it feels good to be back in FL. I missed my annual February pilgrimage for reasons I am not revisiting, but you can, if you’re so inclined, here:
A nap in a sun shower. When we got in Wednesday night we stayed up late catching up (and maybe enjoying a beverage or several). I needed to rest up for the big night so yesterday afternoon I stretched out on a poolside chaise in the sun, and had a glorious snooze in the most soothing of sun showers.
The Game. What. A. Game. Tom is the GOAT. 🐐 We all geared up (a Brady jersey (Carol), a Gronk jersey (Gina), a TB12 Tampa Brady tee (Kerri) and a 199 tshirt (me) and headed for the stadium. Fanfare. Hoopla. Shenanigans. Sights to see. Annoyances. (And lots of sweat. Damn it was muggy. But also nice to go to a football game and not be freezing.) Our seats in the end zone were fantastic, the crowd was out of its collective mind. The banner-raising ceremony was held…fireworks, the National Anthem, a flyover, and then…kickoff…the game was back and forth and back and forth, close and less close and then with a minute left the unthinkable (well, unthinkable unless you happen to be Tom Brady or rooting for Tom’s team) happened. The Cowboys went up by two with a field goal. One minute left. But under that kind of pressure is when Tommy is at his finest. A march down the field to “our” end zone and then boom. Two seconds to go, Succop splits the uprights for the field goal. They hold the Cowboys on the kickoff return, and Bucs win! (Two TD passes to our boy Gronk too! Bonus!)
Wine Fest/Wine Night. In the “olden” days when Gina and Carol lived up North, Friday nights were almost exclusively reserved for what we alternately called Wine Fest and Wine Night—a semi-random group of folks listening to music, eating, drinking lots of wine, and laughing like crazy. I’d drive down with a roadie of wine in a travel mug and a pair of pajamas and a toothbrush in a Shaw’s bag. Gina and Carol planned a Wine Fest/Night for tonight, and it sounds like it’s gonna be a banger. In fact we listened to the Wine Fest unofficial theme song last night on our ride home after the game to get pumped up. The song? Last Friday Night by Katy Perry. 😂😂😂 So now today I’ll focus on recovery from the big game to get ready for another big night. Because when you have old friends who are amazing hosts, you get an action-packed fun weekend…and you need to be ready for every moment.
So there’s five fantastic things that I’m feeling so good about this Friday. Thanks for being here, reading this. I appreciate it, and you, so much. I need to go get my (late) morning coffee.
Crank it up. And have a great weekend!