by Bob Sparrow
(I feel obligated to tell you upfront that, as you’ll read in the short blog that follows, I had lots of family in for the weekend and had very little time to write anything, so if you have something better to do, I’d skip this and go do it.)
The Three 49er Amigos
This special family weekend started last Wednesday with my flight from Santa Ana to Phoenix to help my sister (you remember Suzanne!) drive to our house for a Ryder Cup / delayed family reunion since she had to miss the last one in July due to Al’s passing. She couldn’t fly over because Dash, The Wonder Dog, is unable to fly due to his heart condition. So, she (and Dash) picked me up at the airport and brought me to her house. That evening we had a great dinner at her club, Desert Highlands, came back to her house and watched a great PBS special on folk music that featured the Kingston Trio, the Limelighters, the Brothers Four and several others. It was great tv for this old folk singer!
We left early Thursday morning taking the ‘scenic’ route out of town. The scenic route included such towns as Wickenburg, Aguila, Salome and Brenda – towns that you have to see to believe, but don’t blink or you’ll miss them – it was well worth the 15 minutes extra that it costs us in time.
Suz’s objective in coming over for this weekend, aside from spending time with family, was to be together to watch:
- Golf’s Ryder Cup
- The USC – Colorado football game
- The Utah – Oregon State football game
- The 49ers – Cardinals football game
Hard copies of all our blogs!
Our brother Jack and his wife, Sharon, arrived on Friday, and Dana, Addison and Mac came down for dinner – a great gathering, only spoiled by the Utes getting a beat down from Oregon State. Ugggg!! The ‘goose egg’ earned by the American Ryder Cup team on Friday, also added to our . . . alcohol consumption! That evening a great surprise was provided by Suzanne, when she gave me an early 80th birthday gift, a three-binder hard copy collection of all of our blogs since the very beginning. The letter that she wrote to me that accompanied them was heart-felt and amazing!!!!
Saturday morning started with a USC win over Colorado in what turned out to be a pretty good game. In true ‘couch potato’ form, we rarely got to our feet as we watch various college football games and tried to root our American golfers on, but they were doing little to retain the ‘Cup’ as they fell behind Europe 10.5 to 5.5 points with only Sunday’s matches remaining.
Sis, with a ‘shirt for all seasons’
Sunday had daughter, Stephanie, grandkids Dylan and Emma as well as son, Jeff and wife, Pam, who was carrying ‘our new granddaughter in the oven’, over to watch a Viking win, a 49er win and a Ryder Cup comeback that fell short. But it was some great family time together.
It was an awesome family weekend and if you’re reading this on Monday morning, I’m driving Suzanne and Dash back to Scottsdale and will fly home in the afternoon.
Great family time – not so great blog! Maybe better next time . . . maybe not!