Survived The Weekend

The song "Swimmin in the Sea" by Gaelic Storm sums it up pretty good, Our holidays had come at last They came real slow and went by fast
Just one week, that's all we had
Then back to work went mom and dad ,
OK, we didn't have a week only three days (three and a half, left work at noon on Friday and I know that some of you took Friday off) but you get the point. How much can you pack into so little time. Friday night was Boston and Fenway Park. Red Sox vs The Rays, I wore nothing "Yankee" to the game. We had seats behind home plate, eight rows up from the field level box seats. I have to point that out because in Fenway Park the beer vendors ONLY sell beer to people in the field level box seats. Who makes that kind of a rule! I can get ice cream, Cotton candy, lemonade, pizza and anything else but no beer. Needless to say I missed the top of the first inning (3rd, 5th while Chris missed parts of the 4th and 6th) standing in line for beer at a concession stand, $7.75 for coors light and Narragansett or $8.25 for Heineken. So you know what we were drinking. The Sox took an early lead but it didn't hold up. Rare happenings in the game, a grand slam for the Rays and an eighth inning bench clearing brawl. The crowd also gave a standing ovation to a member of the Massachusetts National Guard who was a guest of the Red Sox, very classy Boston, and for Kyle, seeing that it was not October, I was able to have a Fenway Frank. One more note on Fenway, if you are going to a game make sure you have a sausage and pepper sandwich from one of the street vendors, outstanding. (thanks to my boss Kevin for the heads up).
Saturday started slow, chores and a haircut but then the ride to East Durham for the festival. I got there in time for Shilelagh Law, the band that I wanted to see and was not disappointed. They were great. hung out with brother and sister Hibernians from Albany and Saratoga. A good day with even better weather.
Sunday was a day of relaxing but getting ready for Monday. Memorial Day I was up early and off to Saratoga Springs for the parade. To say the annual parade would be a misnomer, the parade, usually held the Wednesday evening before the weekend had been cancelled. Although many were upset about this, one man, Paul Brisson,  led the fight to revive the parade through social media like facebook and twitter. What he ended up with was the biggest Memorial Day Parade and the best turnout of crowds watching that I can remember. Well done Paul.
After the parade I was invited to Chris and Amy's for a little party. It was a great venue to try out my first attempt at "Irish Car Bomb" cupcakes (awesome). The food was excellent, from Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, we were all feeling well fed when in front of family (his and hers) Chris knelt down and proposed. This, ladies and gentlemen, was the highlight of the weekend. Without getting too mushy, these are two fantastic people that deserve nothing less then true happiness. They opened their home and family when things were very bad for me and that is something I can never repay. I try not to overuse the word friend, people I work with are my co-workers or friends from work (a three word discription), a friend is something much more. The old saying is, "You can choose your friends but you can't choose your family" shows how much more important friends are than even family. Chris and Amy are my friends. Oh yeah, she said yes.