It’s been too long. I haven’t posted in a great long while. Why? Easy but lazy. I’d sit down to write something to post, find I have nothing to say, write something else, and walk away. For a chunk of time my life bored me, so I was sure it’d bore everyone else. But boring not in a bad way, just that I’ve been in that low-tide groove we all get in. That breath between things.
See, She and I were ramping up. After the holiday rush, working through the trauma of a breakup in the family, and seeing the Younger Son off to Spain to study for the semester, we needed a break. Because we knew we were going to have an epic March…
First, there was The Birthday Party. My birthday is just a few days before a good buddy’s (Farmer Tough Guy & his ridiculous lawn mower). This year we both had “milestone” birthdays, so we rented a room at one of my favorite Twin Cities bars (thanks Sweeney’s!) and made sure there would be plenty of our favorite people around to see what would happen. Upon walking through the door for the party I wondered what kind of night it was going to be. You see, I have an enormous capacity for joyous and ridiculous chaos. At my most contemplative and rational I speak sarcastically and incautiously. And when I’m in my cups, more so. Sober or not, I never intend to offer insult, but am capable of doing so nonetheless. I woke up the morning after the party and immediately asked Her to whom I needed to apologize, and when She said “no one” I was both profoundly relieved and a little disappointed. While I don’t intend to change I certainly understand that I’m a big dumb child. I’ve said it many times, but in the ways it counts most, I’m a very wealthy man. Year after year, there are a lot of people who repeatedly show up to celebrate my imminent dotage. There were no fire trucks, no police cars. No one was asked to leave and I broke nothing (I think). It was a grown-up birthday party for two guys with a lot of experience and not quite as much expertise at being so. And I loved it.
Next, a few days later, She and I picked up my mom and drove to Parker, Colorado to celebrate my father-in-law’s 80th birthday. Parker is a fairly large, and growing, exurb of Denver. We’d all rented a house just outside of town and threw a party. Family I don’t see often enough were there and we made the most out of just a couple days. We caught up, went out, cooked plenty, drank plenty more, celebrated, laughed, and shared stories. Then my mom and She and I got back in the car and drove 13 hours back to the TC. That gave She and I precisely one day to get ready, to do laundry, to pack.
To go to Spain.
I buried the lede, I know. It’s poor writing. Call it a preamble. Whatever. I don’t care. It’s my blog, so I’ll upend the rules of journalistic writing all I want.
I sat down today to write a blog post about our 15 days in Spain. But that’s crazy. Instead I wrote this nominally interesting preamble about the days leading up to our first trip to Spain, my first trip to Europe. I think I’ll write a post about each part of our trip.
Let’s hope I do it justice.
Leave a Reply