Dearest Ole Friend,

Dearest Ole Friend (AKA Rat),

There is something to be said about you. You and my other 4 lovely ladies are like gold to me. You stick by me through the tough times lending a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on. And you are there to celebrate the good times with a bottle of wine in one hand and a hug in the other.  In the tough times we have been experiencing lately, you have become my rock. I jump at the chance to be with you every chance that I get. You are like my favorite warm fuzzy blanket or silk pillowcase. You make me smile when I need it the most and you make me laugh and help me find a way to be positive about things.

So here's a little shout out thanking you for a wonderful ending to my Spring Break. Thank you for letting me know that things are going to be alright.  Thank you for always delivering when I need you the most. Thank you for still living in a place that provides me and the kids a little needed R and R from things. We were only there for a night but it was just what we all needed. Thank you for sharing your back porch, a few cocktails, and hours worth of chatting. This is where we really got down to business filling each other in on things that had happened since February. Of course, I had more to tell but I really enjoyed hearing about the latest gossip to happen in Chucktown and to be able to escape my drama for awhile. Thank you Lula Pearl and Big for providing smiles all around for P and Jack Jack. Big, Jack Jack enjoyed riding electric scooters together, and he especially loved your tire swing! Lula, thank you for sharing your make-up secrets and cooking recipes for your babies with P. You are all she can talk about.

Also thank you for sharing your part of Charleston with us. King Street is still the heart of Chucktown and provided the kids with lots of joy of downtown.  Jack Jack's favorite stop was the Robot Candy store so he could fill up on everything sugar. P loved being able to put her hands in the jars and pull out anything sweet and dreamy imaginable. Thank you for giving Jack Jack a tour of our Alma Mater. He was in total awe. He kept repeating "so this is college, so this is college."  My heart skipped a beat knowing this could be him someday! Thank you for letting me see that spark in his eye and the smile on his face when he met Coach. He is still in awe of his autographed basketball. "He had never met a real celebrity before." I think this is a day that will go down in the books for him...and you wrote it!

Thank you again for being my dearest and oldest friend! We love you!  

First stop: Robot Candy Store

In the gym

At lunch, Charleston Crab House, enjoying the boats

Feeling my age

I am circa 1976. I know that I am not getting any younger and that the big 40 is right around the corner. But I often like to think of myself as a fine wine aging gracefully with each year. And from time to time I like to pretend that I AM 23 again and back in college without a care in the world...listening to the sounds of Widespread Panic and enjoying a cold tall boy. So when Widespread decided to make a pit stop in Columbia last week I got to live out my fantasy or so I thought. They did not fail to deliver...however my dream did!

First of all, there is nothing like standing in the wrist band line with a bunch of newly turned 21 year olds to make you feel old. But if I have newly dyed my grey and I am actually wearing makeup I can attempt to blend in. However, the elderly lady checking IDs last Tuesday thought it would be funny to call me out. All night, she was use to looking for the year 1990 (yes all my friends 1990 is the year you have to be born in to drink!!! can you believe that!!!) so when she came across my 1976 she thought it would be real funny to scream out "You just made it. You just made it!" REALLY...you had to point that out to me and loudly advertise that I am the oldest one standing in the line! I know and am fully aware that if I had been promiscuous at the age of 15 that some of these freshed face babies could have been mine!

Secondly, I love me some WSP! And we try to jump at every chance to see them...only if our schedules align, we can find a babysitter, and we have the funds. I can't say we have consistently toured with them over the years. And I can't say I know every album or song. There were times last night I didn't know the song but those times were few and far between. For the most part they played a lot of songs from my youth and that's when the age thing reared its ugly head again. When songs like Diner and Henry Parsons (my all time favorite) echoed through the auditorium, I found myself the only one dancing in my aisle (by the way, the same aisle I sat in when I saw them for the first time at the Township at 16)....making me wonder do any of these babies know the golden oldies??!!! Then my insightful husband pointed out that Panic is our Allman Brothers...let me explain. When we saw the Allman Brothers for the first time in 1995 they had been together for 25 years, and the freshed faced babies seeing Panic last Tuesday was seeing a band that had been jamming out for over 25 years.

Don't get me wrong I had a blast last night! I shook my old booty until the cows came home. Their set list played to my heart and my age and that's why I love them! Thank you for a wonderful evening JB and friends. You gave me my last hooorahhh before this old body can make baby #3 become a reality!!! We ended it on a good note!

Finish Line!

I did it! I can now say that I walked/ran (yes I ran at least a mile of it!) my first 10K! And 10K sounds much more impressive than 6 miles! With a group of 5 good friends in tow, we successfully completed the 32nd annual Cooper River Bridge Run on Saturday, April 2nd (and may I remind you that it was not April Fool's Day and I am not pulling any body's leg).

As many of you know, I do not define myself as athletic or remotely in shape. I don't love going to the gym or jump at the chance to go for a run around the block. My idea of a good time is hanging out on the back porch with friends and a good cocktail in hand. So this bridge run was a huge feat! And honestly I can't say that I trained for months to accomplish it which is even more impressive to me at least. Okay... except if you want to count my one trek across the Lake Murray Dam and back or the countless times I walked Jackson home from school.  So, I can't truly count that as training. Don't get me wrong, I had every intentions of training and the best motives of running all 6 miles. Martin even bought me a tread mill for my birthday. Its just that life got way too busy and way to chaotic to add a 10k to my saucer sized plate of life.

But I did it! And no one can take that away from me. Sure I did it in an hour and 34 minutes and 23 seconds and I came in 26,589 (out of 34,756 finishers), but crossing that finish line was extreme joy and euphoria. Now I know why runners do it and enjoy it. The crowd. The music. The adrenalin rush. The people cheering you on on the side lines. The little kids handing out water. I would do it all over again. Next time I will train though. Because 2 of those miles are calling my running feet and I can do it. I have a true appreciation for runners now. They aren't just fitness fanatics running into the great abyss for no known reason anymore but athletes that are accomplishing their goal. Their Super Bowl. Their World Series. Their Kentucky Derby. Their Final Four.  Okay maybe I am going a little over board, but I did enjoy it and now I see the purpose. The Finish Line! 

Go here to see my official results:
http://results.active.com/pages/oneResult.jsp?pID=103070484&rsID=107388&pubID=3