Where Are You Going with This?

My butt hurts.

I know, you really needed to know that, but seriously, it HURTS! I went biking with my daughter yesterday because I promised her and it was a really gorgeous day outside. We didn't bike very much, about an hour or so. On a flat trail. Paved. My daughter had to keep waiting for me to catch up, and every time an older person rode by she laughed at me and said 'even THAT person is faster than you'! She is so mean sometimes. It was pretty pathetic, I'll admit. I'm not in the best shape. My knees started hurting almost instantly.

My butt didn't hurt until last night when we went over to Elise's to watch the Stupid Bowl with Cecily and Charlie. Cecily hates football, but humoured us for a little while. Not that I'm surprised, but what a fucking disappointment. A Philadelphia tradition upheld, however...take us to the championship, get everyone's hopes up, and then blow it. The funniest thing was this morning when I walked my kid to school (I didn't go into work today...shhh!) and listened to all the kids regurgitate everything they heard their parents say the night before. It was like a gathering of workers around the water cooler, miniaturized. "Donovan didn't lose the game. He threw more yards than blah blah blah..." and "Oh yes he did, he sucked last night," and even comments on the half-time show: "Paul was the best singer of the group," to which I felt like grabbing the girl and shaking her by the shoulders YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT! SHUT UP! JOHN LENNON WAS THE BEST YOU DIMWIT!

But I restrained myself.

The weekend was fairly busy, but no wedding dress shopping. I was going to postpone it to Sunday so that Cecily would be back to join us, but it turned out that even those gigantic warehouse bridal stores insist you need an appointment. I didn't  know that. We're going to go on a week night so I am not driven to homicidal rage due to the screaming/giggling/obnoxious hoardes of brides-to-be that apparently decend on these places every fucking weekend.

So I spent a lot of quality time with my kiddo, and we had a good weekend. Friday night we went to an art opening, a solo show of a good friend of mine who does video sculpture. The show looked fantastic and he had a great turnout. Saturday we took Hammer (we were watching the bubba for Cecily while they were at her father's funeral) for a very long walk through the mud. The walk was far longer than I had intended it to be, as I miscalculated how far it was from where we parked to the snack bar, our goal. We made it, after walking for over 2 hours, and I thought 'How the hell are we going to make it back?' I prayed we'd run into someone we knew who could drive us back to our car. Instead, my faith in humanity was given a nice lift. We started chatting casually with a couple and their two young boys about Hammer and how they had moved here from Houston because of the research they did on bike trails, etc. etc. I had somewhere in there mentioned how I had misjudged distance and we had ended up walking really, really far. The woman than offered, 'If you're really tired we can give you a lift back in our minivan'.

Um...what? I was amazed. Who does that kind of thing? The patriarch, to be fair, was not that thrilled with his wife's generosity. He grumbled something about the dog needing to be cleaned off, to which she scoffed that her van was filthy already. Truly, all of our feet were far muddier than Hammer's. The trails were all MUD. So I accepted the offer, graciously and gratefully. I would not have accepted if I thought we could have made it back, but we had hockey practice to get to still and needed a break. As it turned out, by the time we got back to our house we only had an hour to rest before going to practice, so thank GOD they gave us that ride.

After practice, we went to the airport to pick up Cecily and Charlie and brought them and Hammer back to their house where we ordered in some Chinese food and let Cec decompress a bit. She's wiped out, not surprisingly.

Seriously, though...isn't that one of the nicest things you've heard in a long time? They offered strangers, strangers with a large dog, a ride.

I'm in a good mood today because Pete arrives for another two-week visit. I pick him up from the airport late this afternoon. I'll try not to get too goo-goo gaa-gaa in my posts these next two weeks. Just a little bit.

Comments

[Catherine]

Oh, goo-goo gaa-gaa away, we'll all just have to live vicariously through you. :) Hooray for Pete's arrival! It'll be nice to have him here to support you while you're trying to be supportive to others. We all need someone to lean on...

Super Bowl dumb, very dumb. I'm awfully glad it's over. I'll say this, though. The halftime show was mind-numbingly boring, but when Paul managed that one good scream at the end of Hey Jude, I put my arms up in the air and said "Woo!" and I had goosebumps. His scream can still do that to me...

Cool about those people giving you and the peanut a ride...it must be "rely on the kindness of strangers" weekend. Just call us Blanche Dubois!

[Jenn]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! But you should have shaken that little girl and called her a dimwit! Without John Lennon, Paul would be playing his guitar in a park with a hat on the ground hoping for a quid or two. Ok, my love for John sometimes clouds my judgment; more realistically a staple act at the Liverpool fair.

[Sheri]

Awesome post Sarah! Enjoy your visit with Pete and have great time picking out a dress with Cecily. You truly are a wonderful friend and support system for her.

Strangers giving you a ride? How neighborly and totally unheard of!

[Elise]

I agree John was the best too! My mom always tells me how Paul was the most popular one when she was a kid and the Beatles were just coming across the pond, but I have always liked John best.

Stupid Bowl indeed! That is too funny about the kids saying what their parents were saying about the game. Ari said Donovan is being ripped a new one on talk radio today. Sucks to be him! Knowing this town, he'll probably get death threats. Sometimes Philly fans are completely wacko.

[Cecily]

Just for the record, I still HATE FUCKING FOOTBALL.

That said, it was nice to hang out.

Can't wait to see Pete!

[Amanda B.]

Cecily- I hate football too. Blech.

Sarah, I'm glad your honey-bunny is back for a visit. I hope you guys have a wonderful time. :)

[DMouse]

Paul McCartney is an arse.

[Beth]

Where in the world are you that you need an appointment to look for dresses? That doesn't sound right. You need an appointment for a fitting, but not to *look* at dresses. Just walk in and look around!

But don't look at anything in your size or smaller. I know, sounds insane, but they run a size or two small, just to make sure your ego is sufficiently fragile on your big day, no doubt. So look at things that are a little large because it *will* have to be altered and it's alot easier to work with too much fabric then not enough.

That's my assvice for the day. Aren't you just overjoyed to have been the recipient?

So, when are you going to post the url for this fabulous new website/venture? Is it already here somewhere and I'm missing it?