No, I was not abducted by aliens nor kidnapped by the drug cartel.  I haven't run away from home nor suffered a traumatic brain injury, although it kinda feels like that.

For the last ten days I've been celebrating Hubbellpalooza.

I'm exhausted.

It wasn't even that big a Hubbellpalooza: Katelyn, BJ and Tyler couldn't come home due to the fact that they actually have jobs.  How lame is that?  Jeff could only come for a few days and JP and his lovely bride, Royana couldn't come either.  All of this delinquency was due to the same "I can't just leave work for weeks on end just because it's summer!" mindset.  What is happening to my family?  They are adrift on a sea of misplaced priorities!

This is not change I can believe in!!

We managed to have a pretty rockin time anyway.

Margy and her boys rolled into town after an exhaustive fifteen hour car ride across the waste land known as Nebraska only to be upstaged by Billy, who put in a full days work, hopped on a plane and arrived five minutes before they did.  Then he changed his shirt, said he was going to Al's to celebrate the bar's imminent closure, did Margy want to come?  She peered blearily at him from beneath her greasy car hair and grunted "naaah."

By Saturday, everyone had recovered from the trip home and was ready to party hard.  This was the first year a whole slew of the kids were old enough to go to the Basilica Block party.  Bill always gets a room downtown so he doesn't have to drive anywhere after wards.  He opened his room to all of us for a pre concert party.  There was food and beverages for all ages and music.  The room was too small for the crowd so it spilled out into the hall but by seven everyone with a ticket had headed to the Basilica and the rest of us were trying desperately to escape the parking ramp that wouldn't believe we had already paid to park.  I guess you have to pay again if you want to leave.  It was the Parking Ramp California.

It was Josie's first concert ever.  I told her before hand that it would ruin concerts for her forever; it's outside, in a gorgeous venue, downtown, which is her favorite place and she was with all her favorite people.  Going to see some mega band in an arena will never hold a candle to it.
The next morning she agreed with me.  She had been fortunate to be with her sister Katie, who really knows how to enjoy a concert.  Kate always manages to elbow her way to the stage, isn't afraid to dance like no one's watching and doesn't hesitate to yell at large people who try to elbow her out of the way.  Josie had more fun than she'd ever had.

After that the week went by in a blur of eating, drinking, laughing and outings designed to entertain a large crowd of people from the age of 1 to 75 who would just as soon hang at the lake all week but the weather was cold and gray.

I remember going to the arboretum, Lake Harriet, the Excelsior beach, the Swedish Institute, the Art Institute, McCollows house, our old homestead by Lake Harriet and the movie theater.  I couldn't for the life of me tell you which days we went where or what order we did any of it in.  They were all here for dinner one night, too and it was a blast.

But I feel like a need to undergo a two week cleanse and sleep for about a month.

 

What did you think of this article?

Liked
Disliked
No Opinion