Day 70 "Large sums of money should not be raised for a three day beer bust." Really?

Day 70, Monday May 10th. Ran 5 miles (at better than a 10 mile per hour pace thank you!). Total so far 111.4 miles/ Miles to go: 888.6/ Miles behind pace per day 80.6 (should have run 191 by now...ouch).

Gambling totals: Saturday won 5 dollars on Weekly Grand yahoo! But did not win the lotto (or I would not be writing this post lol). Gambling investment so far: 30 dollars/ Winnings 17 dollars...Down 13 dollars :(


Whew! Lots of statistics to keep up with.

Did not run over the weekend. I had planned to get up early Saturday morning but I did not get home from work until after 11. I had to stay (for the third night in a row) and monitor exams. At least they are over now. I drove to Tyler to spend the weekend with my wonderful second mother, Pat Savage. Pat is 80 and is family to me and my family. She is part of every family occasion whenever possible, like reading at son Eric's wedding. I wanted to spend Mothers Day with her and with her daughter, Chris, who was visiting from Houston. Chris and I were classmates together since the 5th grade and are like brother and sister. Pat's lost a son and I lost my mother the same year, when I was 15 and a sophomore. We bonded in our loss and love.

I stopped at the grocery store on the way to buy a box a special mixed crackers that I know she likes and some mixed nuts that she had specifically asked for. I also wanted to pick up a nice potted plant and ended up with a larger purple geranium. The next stop was the liquor store for a bottle of Skyy Vodka and some bourbon...she also likes her cocktails. My best friend, Nickie who went to school with Chris and I in Tyler and, like everyone in our class, knows and loves Pat, contributed a "knock out rose" bush so I looked like a traveling florist/liquor store in my daughter's two seater Miata.

In fact, Pat had been the chaperon for our Senior Trip to New Orleans back in 1972 when Nickie and I had been the last to show up having stopped in a little town called Pawhattan on the way where Nickie's Italian uncle, Joe Leone, operated Joe's Last Chance Liquor Store and, upon realizing that "Little Nickie Faye" had graduated from High School, had promptly loaded us down with free beer and good wishes.

We were not supposed to have a senior trip that year. Father Joseph, the young ardent new Principle of the Catholic High School had called us in and told us that "Large sums of money should not be raised for a three day beer bust!" He misjudged us as a class. I was class President and Chris was the Treasurer and we knew better than Father Joseph what large sums of money should be used for. So we had our car washes and raised our money but, unlike in years past when the senior trip had predated the graduation ceremony, we waited until after we had graduated and then, with degrees in hand, proceeded to the French Quarter and our three day beer bust! Nah nah da boo boo, you can't touch me! was our motto. And Pat Savage and another mother were co-conspirators in our rebellion. I will always love her for that!

But I have digressed. I am sure there will be more about Pat in future posts. Needless to say it was a nice weekend of good company and good food. Upon arriving in Tyler I had a nice lunch of chicken salad and fruit and the first of many scotches.

Brunch was later followed by 5:30 Mass. Pat is a true old school Catholic and does not miss Mass, ever! Now you can go to Mass on Saturday night or Sunday and avoid having the mortal sin on your soul of missing Mass. She was serving at the service, so we went Saturday night.

I had theological problems with the sermon given by a genial Puerto Rican priest. Since it was Mothers Day Sunday, he was talking to the women. Told them that they needed to look up to the Virgin Mary as a role model. Then asked if we knew how Mary knew they were out of wine at the Marriage feast at the Wedding at Cana...you know, Jesus's first miracle in the Bible where He turns water into wine. Mary tells Him that they are our of wine. Jesus says something like "why are you bothering me it is not my time yet to be about my Father's business." But undaunted, Mary tells the waiters to do as Jesus instructs and Jesus tells them to bring water jars and suddenly the water is now high quality wine....as the wine steward tells the groom..."funny you are serving the good stuff now....most people serve the good stuff first, etc." Must have been some party....like our Senior Trip!

Well this Priest explained that Mary had a servant's heart so surely she knew they were out of wine because she was in the kitchen working and not at the Head Table being served......So the role model for women is stay in the kitchen? I thought, you know, she was a relative and maybe she knew they were out of wine because she had asked for a glass and had been told they were out! I wanted to stand up and say something like...how about a role model like being a Priest! Then maybe the women would not have to look in the kitchen for purpose in the Church, but out of respect for Pat, I sat there quietly fuming.

Mass was followed by a nice dinner party at Pat's house with friends of Pat's generation. I really love that age. They have lived. All had lost partners. There is something about that time in ones life. The chaff is blown away and what is left is the best part. One woman talked about her large family and how two of her sisters had become nuns and one brother a priest. She said the nuns had their eyes on her when she was in high school but she would have none of it. She was not cut out for that life. Our discussion was made livelier by the wine and wonderful steak and vegitables. I could not say know to the chocolate cake and ice cream which capped the dinner and the night!

Sunday was a perfect day. We ate a nice brunch of salmon and salads outside on Pat's beautiful garden table. I started out with Scotch Marys which are Bloddy Marys made with scotch instead of vodka. I love the smokey flavor that the scotch adds to the tomato juice. The Scotch Marys followed by the wine served at brunch, made me sleepy and I took a luxurious nap. On my way back to Dallas I purchased three rose bushes. Tyler, my home town, is known as the Rose Capital of Texas and roses are everywhere. I hope they grow in my garden.

I also brought back from Tyler an orchid which Pat had bought for me - she is a gift giver and I could not leave without gifts even though it was Mothers Day (which included some chicken and dumplings, cut fresh fruit and a slice of chocolate cake). Back in Dallas I met a friend who was in town for work from San Francisco at the Mi Concina's in the Shops at Legacy in Plano, north of Dallas. I did not realize how far north it was... I felt like I was almost in Oklahoma!

So you see how the weekend robbed me of my running (although I had brought my shoes to Tyler thinking maybe I would run there.) I woke up Monday determined to run and to begin to catch up on my miles. After work I ran 5 miles in less than 50 minutes. It felt good, but I was coughing a little and decided not to run the last mile. Have to increase my weekly mileage to make my goal....but Life Is Good!