Week in Review

I can't apologize enough. What a lame attempt at an online experiment. Whatever...I'll just try to pick up the pieces from here.

Some updates:

Saturday June 14th
Went to The Color Purple with my Dad. He and I have been going to 3 plays every summer for 12 years. I really can't say enough about the many privileges I have had.

Here is some music from the show. What an amazing performance. http://www.colorpurple.com/color_purple_sights_and_sounds.php


Friday June 13th

Happy Early Father's Day

Went golfing in Ohio with my dad. We did more of a Father's Weekend than day. I had a few kick ass shots, I must say., and the course was beautiful. Golf is pretty much my favorite thing. No one is very good at it, so, to me, there's no pressure to perform really well. It's a relaxing day in a beautiful place with people you love--a veritable microcosm of what life should be.


Thursday June 12th

Station Square

I've said it before (and, actually, I stole it from one of my favorite books, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh), but some people really know how to have a good time. My mom, dad, and I went to Station Square where we gazed at our picturesque city skyline, watched the dancing fountain show, chowed down on greasy Hard Rock appetizers, sipped slowly on chilled coffee and, later, bloody mary's, and breathed in the muggy Western Pennsylvania summer air.










It doesn't get any better. It just doesn't.

Golf!

Dad and I went golfing today, on a fabulous course. I will say that the photo above is posed...that's not my actual swing, because one would never cock one's foot like that when actually teeing off. =)

After we golfed we met my mom and Joe for wings at Rook's then all met back at Dad's for a rousing game (2 out of 3, of course) of Euchre, my family's favorite pastime. My mom and I are undefeated. Dad and Joe have one two games, but never a round of 2/3.

I am so appreciative of my family. Being able to sit down, the four of us, and play a game of cards, share coffee and conversation, and laugh together. It's nothing short of amazing. I'm no fool, of course. Things are not perfect. There's animosity there and irritants--things from long ago that will never totally fade away. But, for the most part, we are a merry bunch when together. I hope for many more of these times this summer, and am so satisfied with my decision to stay in Pittsburgh (well, use it as home base, more like ;D) for the next few months.

Family is something that I have always struggled with. Some are of the sort where the family unit takes precedence above all else. People stay together, there is tradition to uphold. It reminds me of patriotism in a way, the many over the individual. And others are about one member of the family. The child comes first, the head of the household, what have you. Some show affection, others do not, or cannot. Money is a means to pleasure for some, and the end all for others. My family falls into many of these categories. We've had our feuds, our fights, our woes. My mother and father are so different from one another and I am just about as close to a 50/50 split as one could imagine.

I am admittedly rambling now. I have a lot of feelings jumbled up inside that I am trying to work out. Sorry that it has to be on you. I'll aim for better in the future.

Euchre in the back yard.

Old habits die hard, or not

Went out with an old friend tonight. It's so funny because I spent about two years of my life being enamored with him as an undergrad and now we go out and drink for hours (and it's so awesome being back at sea level, because I can drink FOREVER), talk about everything, and are the epitome of 'just friends.' Funny how life works.

I was also reminded of how sweet little things make everything so worth it. Allow me to unpack that unwieldy, ambiguous statement. Jesse (said friend) and I know each other from the a cappella group that owned both of our lives in college. We were also the choice soloists for several songs, and frequently duetted. One such song was "The Reason" by that band with the dumb name. We stopped off at a couple of bars tonight between 9 and 2, and when I dropped him off at his car that song came on the radio. That song is so old--it never receives airplay anymore. But there it was in full Hoobastank glory. And we harmonized to it like the nerds that we are, and we hugged, and he left.

I have to admit, that tune would definitely make an appearance on the soundtrack to my life.

Golf is good.
All the time.
and
All the time.
Golf is good.