Socialized Medicine, Education, & Marital Bliss

Wishing Marital Bliss to Kenny & Crissy

I woke at 6:50am to begin my Saturday. If I didn’t have plans, I certainly would’ve slept longer. I had plans to meet neighbor Kenny at Raymond Golf course for a 9:30am tee-time. Working backwards, I figured I should leave the house no later than 9:05am to give myself time to loosen up. In kind, I’d need to be back from my run by 8:30am to leave enough time to shower, gather all of my gear, and get some food. And to make all of that happen, I’d needed to depart for my run no later than 7:45am. That left an hour to exercise, walk Ykraps, coffee, and internet. Perfect.

I executed my plan precisely, and found myself back from my run by 8:10am. I felt more than a little stiff so I opted for a real quick hot tub. Ahhh, it felt terrific! I was showered and taking care of the final few tasks on my list by 8:45am. The forecast called for rain and temps in the 60’s. The sky teased us all morning with clear patches that when the sun shined through warmed the temperature considerably. I arrived at the golf course at 9:10am. Kenny & his buddy Mike arrived just after me. Ben, who I didn’t yet no, arrived then too.

As usual, Raymond was more than crowded. The first tee had at least three groups huddled around. Kenny unexpectedly picked up everyone’s green fees! Thanks Kenny! He’d be getting married here in the Party House later this evening. In addition to the four of us, he brought his soon-to-be stepson, Jacob with him too. Apparently Kenny knows Kelly Trent, the local pro so that wasn’t going to be a problem.

We were slow to start. Probably didn’t tee off until almost 9:50am (20 minutes late). But that’s OK. My front nine went about as expected. Tee to green I was holding my own, but my putting was atrocious. I had several four putts, and the thing is, most of my initial putts were from less than 20’ out. I didn’t let it bother me though. I was simply happy to be out there golfing.

We took a brief food break in between nines. We allowed the group directly behind us to play through. Hole ten is an easy hole but I made it very difficult struggling to get off the tee. I was hitting my fifth shot from this side of the creek counting penalty strokes Yuck! My game didn’t improve much and neither did the weather. It rained pretty good from about hole #11 – 16. I had a couple horrendous holes and no super good ones. Bottom line, my final score was 109. But on a positive note, I don’t think I lost a single ball! J

We didn’t finish until 3pm. All of us were weary and cold. The weather felt a heck of a lot different after the chilly rain. We all headed our separate ways, but ended up only two houses away from one another. You see, Kenny’s my neighbor!

I took my wet clubs from the Trooper and immediately placed them in the garage where I took them out one by one to dry them off. Mindy wasn’t home. I figured her out shopping. I was delighted to find the house sparkling clean when I went inside. It had been a bit upside down since Jacob’s b-day party last Sunday. Before doing anything else, I swept out the garage taking full advantage of Mindy’s van being gone.

While working away, I listened to an incredible opera, Satyagraha, by Phillip Glass on NPR. It simply struck a chord with me. In between my tasks I checked out Amazon.com to see if I could buy it on CD. Before Mindy returned home, I swept the garage, dried my clubs, and began repairing/spackling the small exposed wall around two pieces of our new granite counter tops. Mindy returned home while I was in the middle of the spackling. Meanwhile, my back was spasming badly. I decided to get back in the hot tub for the second time today, and the third in two days.

After hot tubbing I got back in my flannels and lounged around the house for the remainder of the afternoon. The wedding was slated for 6:30pm and we planned to leave at 6:10pm. I even tried taking a nap but didn’t/couldn’t fall asleep. I headed up for a shower around 5:45pm. I was ready to go by 6:05pm. Mindy reminded me that Ykraps needed walked. I opted to get it done now rather than make him wait.

We left for the wedding at 6:15pm. Again, the wedding was taking place at Raymond golf course. We were there in two minutes. As luck would have it, it was raining pretty steadily just as we pulled up. I let Mindy out at the door before parking. I met her inside a minute or two later.

The wedding moved very quickly. We weren’t inside ten minutes before the wedding was underway. And the ceremony itself moved swiftly too. By 6:50pm the wedding was over and the partying began. This is the third wedding we’ve attended in the last year where the ceremony & the reception were held at the same venue. If you ask me, that makes for a much better experience.

Not trying to be a snob or anything, but the beer selection was simply not to my liking. I tried to enjoy a couple Rolling Rock’s but they just didn’t cut it. Mindy drank wine, and enjoyed their selection. I found myself craving a Barley’s IPA. After hors d'oeuvres, dinner, and a little dancing, Mindy & I called it an evening. It must’ve been 9:30pm. We were invited to a surprise birthday party for Tracy Birch, but I opted out. I wanted to make a quick stop at Barley’s for an IPA. Mindy willingly agreed.

We found the bar sparsely populated as expected. Jersey, the usual Saturday night bartender, was seated as a guest enjoying a beer and some food – a vegan entrée. To my dismay, they were out of the house IPA. Instead, I ordered a bottled HopSlam. Perfect!
While seated at the bar, Mindy engaged Jersey into conversation. He’s very eclectic and thinks differently than most. We got to talking about politics and then the pros and cons of socialism – socialized medicine and education. It got a bit heated (OK- only luke warm) a couple of times. I ordered a second beer once the conversation got cooking. We stayed until 11:30pm. It was still raining but only lightly when we left for home. Mindy was very tired and headed to bed immediately. I joined her after checking baseball scores.