Onward and Upward in 2024!

Written on 1-2-24.

      Onward and upward into 2024!

Written on 1-26-24.

It’s Eric’s birthday today, and he is 58.  His birthdays go right along with the number of Super Bowls.  Happy birthday, Eric!

Amanda drove me to the Durango Airport (on Eric’s birthday even), and I am at DIA as I write this.  I am sitting in the corner at the New Belgium Restaurant, which is right next to my B32 gate for my flight out to Dulles.  Both flights have been delayed, but I don’t mind.  Guy will be able to pick me up at the airport, because he wouldn’t have been able to do so before these delays.  It’s 4:28, but my flight leaves at 6:13, so I have a few moments.  I will continue this on the plane, too.  

ShyShay is playing in a tournament at National Harbor this weekend (a three-dayer), and that’s mostly the reason I am going.  I am so excited to see her and her team play, the VA Elites U17 team!  Guy said they have already won their first two games.

Life is expensive.  I just spent around $32.00 on fish tacos; at least they were fresh, hot, and tasty. 

Until a bit later…

Written on 1-31-24.

I am in seat 36D on my way back to Denver after an incredible trip to Reston to watch ShyShay play in the National Harbor tournament.  They won, and I joked it was because I made the trip.  I said, “I didn’t come all this way for them to take 2nd place.”

I tried to get a fund going for me to come back next weekend for the Baltimore tournament, but it didn’t take hold.

I have my noise-cancelling headphones on, and I have found a soothing video of New Zealand scenery with soft music and waves lapping up on river rock shores.  Life is good.  Wait, here is some turbulence.  Oh, and the two seats next to me are...

 vacant.  This flight is mostly full, yet I have a row all to myself.  Nice.  It’s allowing me to set my stuff on the seat next to me.

The “bit later” became “quite a bit later” due to my conversation with Mike on the flight out.  I planned to continue my writing time, but that time was hijacked, and I was fine with it.  I haven’t spoken with the person next to me on a flight since I was a young man.  It was refreshing, and we spoke the entirety of the flight.  He is 54, and he is an engineer.  We had many things in common, so one story would lead into many others, kind of like the six degrees of separation thing.  A difference would be that he is divorced and remarried.  It was really cool to connect with and converse with someone new, and the flight felt like it took only 20 minutes.  And, that was with a delay of about 30 minutes as we sat and waited for a part to come.

ShyShay’s repaired knee supported her and didn’t let her down, and she did really well.  It was surreal to be able to watch the girls play live in front of me instead of through a small video screen.  Because Guy was in charge of the video for this tournament, they would often be serving right in front of us.  They were very good, of course, and part of that was due to their chemistry.  Many of them have played together since they were 12 years old.  Their parents were very friendly, too, and they were impressed and grateful that I had made the trip.

After the tournament, Guy arranged for us to go see Jim Gaffigan, too.  Belinda and I looked at getting tickets for him in Albuquerque, but they were far too expensive.  It was at the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) Theater, and the cost was $70.00 per person, so not too bad.

He was hilarious, and we laughed a lot, of course.  He has lost a lot of weight, and I even said, “Wow!” when he first walked out.  That was a lot of the material for the start of his show.  

I also said to Guy, “I bet it’s Ozempic.”

Jim started, “You’re probably thinking it’s Ozempic, but it’s not.  It’s the other one.”

Yesterday, we attended Shylah’s induction ceremony into the National Honor Society, and I got to see here high school, Herndon High.  We ended my trip with an evening at TopGolf.  It was the best.

Guy cried a little when we said goodbye this morning, and I got a bit emotional, also.  I think I cried when he left after Jame’s wedding.  Somehow, it means more to the person who received the visit.  I was thinking more about getting through security and to my gate on time, but I thinking Guy was feeling grateful that I had made the trip.  That’s how I felt after he stayed a few days extra after James and 

Casey’s wedding.

Oh, we also celebrated my 57th birthday!  We went out to an Italian restaurant (Zeffirelli’s) in Herndon, and I got shrimp scampi and a Peroni beer.  We picked up a DQ cake after that.  It’s a 10” cake, so they are going to be eating that for the next few months.