Even if nobody asked……
1. Had a breakfast meeting recently at a place with a sign on the door warning customers not to move the tables and chairs, stating that “you are only a GUEST here, but this is our HOME”. Well, I hope the owners like their home with tables and chairs that don’t move because the guests stopped coming. Good grief.
2. By contrast, 2004, The Breakers Hotel. My then 3-year-old daughter asks for a meatball. There are no meatballs on the menu (it was a steakhouse). The waiter asks if we don’t mind waiting a little longer for our meals so he can make the meatballs happen. We say sure (and “pass the wine, honey”). When our meals come out, sure enough, two meatballs for the Princess. I asked him how he managed to make them that fast. He chuckled, “I didn’t. We went down the street to the Italian restaurant and got them.” And the “balls of meat” (as we call them in my house) never appeared on the bill either. Now that’s how you do it, kids!
3. My wife and I walk together after dinner. Occasionally she’ll tell me she has something good to listen to and wants to walk alone. I leave a few minutes later to give her space. But every 10-15 minutes I turn a corner to find her approaching. She waves to me (often letting four of her fingers rest) so I pivot quickly and move in the opposite direction. I find this funny. She might too. Our neighbors ARE starting to whisper though.
4. Want to know the absolutely perfect life perspective I’m aiming for in “retirement”. It’s spelled out in this Twitter thread. Just wow! https://x.com/newtonlaw/status/1734717613903884732
5. In my list of the best books I’ve ever read, A Man In Full by Thomas Wolf checks in at #11. A true masterpiece. Mr. Wolf died a few years back. This should have warned me off when I noticed that Netflix adapted the novel into a series. I made it through one episode. They completely refashioned the lead character to mimic an image they have of a current day political target. Of course they did. Disgusting.
6. All of Rhode Island should be pulling hard for the Celtics to win the NBA title if for no other reason than the C’s head coach, @JoeMazzulla, is a native son. Johnston, RI and Bishop Hendricken High School, the latter of which we will excuse. Joe is also a man of deep faith and conviction as he shows here, sort of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQG7fPLTdMs
7. If messing up music lyrics were a sport, I’d be in the Hall of Fame. Imagine, I only recently discovered that David Lee Murphy’s big hit song, Dust on the Bottle, was not, in fact, Dust on the BIBLE. Think I’m crazy? Well, "There might be a little dust on the BIBLE. But don't let it fool ya about what's inside. There might be a little dust on the BIBLE. It's one of those things that gets sweeter with time". Tell me that doesn’t work!
8. This Sunday is the day I used to tell my wife “don’t look at me, you’re not MY mother”. I don’t say that anymore. I call this a maturing husband; my friends call it a genitally challenged husband.
9. I recently came to realize that my favorite song of all time, judged by how I feel when it comes on and how committed I am to finishing it, is a Beatles song. Not my usual genre, so this surprised me. But, Here Comes the Sun has a magical hold on me.
10. My marriage covenant with Trish included three things we would NOT have as husband and wife: A dog, a pool and a boat. Ten years ago a large hole was dug in my backyard. By a crane! Several weeks later, Mother’s Day as I recall, the hole, now cemented and lined, was filled with water and children were jumping in. Now I’m paranoid about the covenant. It’s then I realized that the Fat Head dog decal adorning our entry wall has been painted over. Uh oh! That was the appeasement for a real dog! Now he’s gone. I can see this coming. So behold, July 4th that year we have a real dog. He was small and cute (the price tag was neither). The girls named him Eugene Fitz-Herbert after the standard Disney male character whose deficiencies, ego and manhood need taming by the resident princess of the current movie brand. This one was Tangled. I fought for at least naming him after Eugene’s alter ego, Flynn Ryder. They relented. We call him Flynn. Four years later, the girls now bored with the properly muted and emasculated first dog, add another to work on. Kevin arrives. Our marriage covenant is now badly mangled and hanging by a single thread. I’m no fool. I can see where this is going. And Trish proved it on Friday when I asked what she wanted to do on Mother’s Day. “I want to go to the boat show.” “Oh really?, I reply. “Yup", she smirks. So it flies out. I couldn't stop it: "Well, don’t look at me, you’re not MY mother!”
Happy Mothers Day! Especially Trish Harrington, Morgan Claire Sebastian and Lauren Harrington.