Anyways...it was quite a weekend, with the sad start. The funeral service was of course a tough time and the subsequent visiting with the family also sad, but sharing a post funeral meal was comforting. I brought over the adobo I made last night and it went fast. This crowd doesn't mince words, so the compliments were real. This was the same group of family and friends that were at little David's baptism celebration only 18 months ago. After eating, though, the guitar came out and big David started singing Filipino folk songs with the rest of the relatives, which did me in once again. Had to excuse myself to weep as I crossed the street back to the house.
Stuck the 'cross bike in the car and went to Antietam battlefield to watch Adam and the rest of Troop 249 lay out some of the luminaires for the commemoration of the 23,000 thatwere killed/wounded/went missing in a period of 12 hours on that awful day in our history. Yeah, that's TWELVE HOURS of butchery and TWENTY THREE THOUSAND casualties. Rode through the battlefield and saw the sheer amount of these things, found Adam, who had just gotten sick with some sort of stomach flu, and made the decision to bring him home after much gnashing of teeth, as it was only one more night of camping for him, though he had already camped the night before in the frigid weather, so who am I to talk after spending a comfy night in my own bed. Rode back to the car and collected the boy and his stuff from the campsite and homeward bound we went.Got home and put on the formal wear for the annual Christmas party at Hamel Builders. a general contracting firm that builds a lot of the stuff that we design. This is about my 9th annual bash with these guys that I've been to, and it's actually a touchstone in my year, almost like the gamut of other annual markings that indicate the passage of yet another year. Had a good time and stuck with the beer instead of the harder stuff, since Karen wasn't with me to drive me home if I were to get sloppy....Talked to Steve Wahl, current leader of the MABRA 'cross series (C group) and found that he was not gonna be at Reston the following day, one less person to lap me in yet another grueling event.
Which was cold and windy, and not rainy, as I had feared, and Kemal and I represented the BP with Todd G at the front of the grid and we race along with the usual suspects, though I finished this one without being lapped at all, and, as an added bonus, passed and held off the Turk to boot. Until I found out the reason for Kemal's troubles was a broken rear brake that was rubbing against his rim for the entire first half of the race, since he usually hands my ass to me on a platter in road or cyclocross events, and even when we're training, the dude has a decent engine. The tifosi showed up for us as I actually felt stronger with their constant urging and cheering, and the hot chocolate and cookies that they brought were the ultimate bonus...so thanks Kay, Kathy, Johnny M (the other one), Pam, Andrea, and Howard---you guys were AWESOME.
Unlike the 'Skins, who were anything but. When Sonny told Sam that you couldn't call 2 timeouts to freeze the kicker, I figured that the head coach would know that too. Alas, that was not the case.
Back into the maelstrom of work and life of the weekday grind--we're measurin' fools this week and next (3 different projects, about 8 buildings, a subject for a whole 'nuther passage of entering the homes many different people to document their units), trying to intersperse quality time with the fam, finishing the permit drawings for our own addition, intervals for the last week of the 'cross season, and guitar pickin'.
And feeling the nagging need to write it all down.
If you got this far, thanks for sticking with me. I'm a thrill a minute.
JF
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