Memorial Day Weekend of an Ex-Waitress

It's great, you know?

I actually get to go to backyard barbeques! So I'm getting my fill.

Saturday night, there was a barbeque in South Boston. My first time to Boston, even though I didn't actually see much of it. Mike Austin came up with me, so we enjoyed the big Irish-Catholic family gathering together. Lots of blue-eyed, rosy-cheeked kids (not to mention their blue-eyed, rosy-cheeked Guiness-drinking parents!)
As we were leaving, I thanked the host, but realized I hadn't actually talked to him all evening.
"Yeah, I haven't talked much to anyone here," he replied. "You'll have to come up when there aren't all these people here, so we can actually hang out."
So the gist is, I've now been to Boston, but I haven't really done Boston yet!

Sunday, after a beautiful Mass and Corpus Christi procession at St. John's, I received many "welcome back" greetings from people I hadn't seen in several weeks. Walking down the church steps, I suddenly felt the clenching sinews of thin muscles around my waist, and looking down, saw a blonde head framed by pink dress ruffles. The oldest child of the family for whom I am the Saturday babysitter was overjoyed to see me home! And frankly, I was overjoyed, simple that she was overjoyed! Her father nodded emphatically, "You have been very much missed at our house; will we see you this Saturday?" ...It's so nice to be able to feel at home, even away from home....

Mike caught the train back to the Big Apple, and I went to another barbeque! Sharon's sister-in-law hosted "the family" at her place today. Since Frank and Sharon are away, I found myself promising various extended family members to "give Sharon a kiss" for them! Somehow, that makes me feel officially adopted into the network! That and being the last one to leave the house after the dishes are finished....

Monday, Memorial Day itself, will be my first year in the past three that I won't be running the Bolder Boulder with my lovely Colorado ex-roommates. Sad. But I also won't be rushing back home to start my Memorial Day bartending shift at 4pm! Instead, I will be getting paid to hang out with a family in Stamford, on their boat, on Long Island Sound, all afternoon! One of their children has cerebral palsy, and I'll be helping them out a bit this summer and then next schoolyear, but Monday is a hang-out-with-the-family and let-us-get-to-know-each-other kind of day!

I'm liking this "normal person with a normal schedule" kind of thing....