Today’s blog, from the road
Lynn Murphy Mark
After the Ball
There’s an old song that starts, “After the Ball is over, after the break of day…”. It’s from my parents’ generation and it periodically bubbles up in my memory. Anyway, yesterday was special for several very different “balls” that took place.
Today, in Santa Fe, people who gathered for the marriage celebration are wrapping up a wonderful day yesterday and preparing to resume their lives. Many people who came were from out of state and are flying back home today. I have been charged with delivering two of the women to the airport in Albuquerque. I look forward to chatting with them as we descend from 8,000 feet to around 5,000 feet. The trip takes about an hour and fifteen minutes. That should be ample time to find out a little about them. I think they are Barrett’s friends.
The party was magical. I say that because as we drove up to the venue it was raining cats and dogs and the party was to be held mostly outside. No sooner had people started arriving than the clouds receded and the sun showed up to light the day. When the party was over and the cleanup was underway, the rain resumed. Besides Mother Nature’s cooperation there was the overwhelming feeling of love and joy for our two friends. Several of us had been asked to give toasts, and I was honored to be one of them. Barrett and Sheila were wearing wreaths of flowers on their heads and looked as happy as two can be.
Meanwhile, in St. Louis, there was another ball celebration going on. This one was attended by thousands of people who came to Busch Stadium to say Goodbye to Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols. These two iconic players have brought so much good baseball ju-ju to our town over the last 20 years or so – well, except for the years that Albert played on the West Coast. But Yadi, as we call him, has been masterful behind the plate. He has guided the players on the field from his catcher’s position close to the ground. He has made spectacular throws and outs at home plate. Albert has broken several Major League Baseball records and brought untold excitement to the game. My friend, Rose, taped the festivities so I can watch when I get back home.
Back to Santa Fe. After the ball was over, four of us went back to Patti’s and Nancy’s house. A really good friend who came up from Albuquerque for the party was to spend the night with us. We settled comfortably in chairs and began to talk about the day, and what tomorrow would bring, and were we just a little bit hungry? We raided the refrigerator. I poured myself a glass of wine and back to our chairs we went. Then Mary-from-Albuquerque-and-also-from-San Francisco suggested that we look for a particular movie to watch. It turns out that the movie, “Where the Crawdad’s Sing”, is available on Prime. Mary has seen it already and wanted to see it again.The next two hours were spent fixated on the screen as the beautifully filmed movie displayed itself to us. I recommend this movie to anyone who loves a good mystery. It was filmed in the swamp and shores in North Carolina and features breathtaking scenes. Well, I’m not a film critic so I’ll stop here. All this to say, spend $5.99 and rent it. You won’t be sorry.