Several months back Lucy and I were joking around on .. .what to do .. what to do .. for my B'Day if anything. Well, we happened to be at SWG as usual, saw Zach Romo and asked if he'd be interested in playing here again.... the deal was sealed when we got a resounding YES! We were in a quandary of how do do the invite list, but in the end decided to keep it local. In the past I've had folks come from several states (which will humble someone quickly) , but this time just folks nearby . In the past, I've pushed it out to groups that I'm active in (ex Iron Indians) in conjunction to my local friends. I'm pretty active in the CVMA but chose not to push it out as a blanket offer, however I did have a half dozen of my CVMA family here. Probably the only twist to that whole thing I just said was we were talking with the Donihue's and they wanted to come so we locked down our only extra bedroom and they came in a day early from Hot Springs, AR. So, the B'day get together is planned for the Saturday before my actual B'day ....actually a couple of days later. That's always weird, right? Getting wished Happy B'day ...but... not yet... haha
Historically, I usually cook something up but decided to go the low stress route with a caterer. Initially was thinking SWG but as of late I've stopped at Brashear Catering thirty minutes away and she'd just gotten a brand new food trailer so for me, asking Bettie to to this was a no brainer. It was her first outing with it fully prepped and ready to go so she was excited as well. Only other thing I had to do was ensure my Margarita Machine was in order so I did a test run a few weeks ago; all good. We're a go!
Few days ago headed to SPECS to get a stupid amount of 1800 Tequila, some triple sec and months ago I'd already ordered the Mix. All that left was Lucy and I cleaning up the place a lil, our lawn guy came in Saturday morning just in the nick of time .. .and the weather was cooperating as well. By noon I had the machine cranking out frozen drinks, a bottle of Grand Mariner to keep with the Top Shelf theme and .... time to hit the pool with the Donihue's. Kennedys showed up early as did Mike Grasta and we slowly filled up the back yard. Somewhere just before 3pm the food trailer rolled in, got it parked, got Bettie a margarita and ... things were in place. Zach rolled in around 6 in plenty of time, so all the pieces to the puzzle were coming together. The only thing left ... was our friends. I have to admit, this one put a smile on my face. Half a dozen buddies of mine that I flew with in the old RJ days were there; many of us go back 30+ years. Half dozen of my CVMA brothers / sisters were there, rounding off the military's background with retired Army guys and Navy. Hell, Zach is a former marine so we pretty much had all the "bases" covered? Other really close friends of mine were able to make it. It's honestly hard to express how I felt that day. Many of these folks and I are really tight and the love is deep. Few folks brought some gifts which wasn't necessary, but I'm grateful they even considered it. Two of the gifts were 'out of the norm' and jump out at me. Ratt made me a really nice walking stick, and Dutch gave me an RJ model that he'd created almost 40 years ago (one made in humor.... it's awesome). Over on my table now I've got a smattering of a dozen various bottles of Liquor I've never tried before and looking forward to some taste tests! In one of these cards from Cheng was a lottery scratch off... have to admit.. I was thinking.. WHAT IF?!?! .. but .. no go ... lol.
Zach cranked out some awesome music for several hours with Dutch jumping in the fray with his Harmonicas. As the evening continued on .. folks of course began to leave. Zach was having a great time and left his equipment to get another day. I meandered over to my hammock for a quick Z ..... ( I was OUT). Looking at the security cam footage, evidence that around midnight the party was 'over' and by 0100... everything was cleaned up and lights were out. I woke up less than six hours later, couldn't get back to sleep .... so my Sunday was brutal. Finally yesterday afternoon I found the recliner. Few hours later, crawled in bed early and went into a 'coma' until around 0100 .. and here I sit at 0300 typing away. I'm thinking about finding a stopping point here and heading back to the bedroom to see if I can get a few more hours. Saturday, I was acting like I was 26, forgetting today ... I'm 62. I'll never learn, but dammed it's fun forgetting that fact sometimes....
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| Feeling the Love |
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