Week End Update
Well, while Jeffery was flying across a few states last week to hang out with his brother, Bradley did a little bit of the same and came to Memphis. Wow, Scott and I kinda led parallel lives last week.....It all started with Mrs. Rice's homeroom in 7th grade!!
Brad flew in on Saturday, July 2. Thanks to the internet, we had kept up with updated arrival times and such. As luck would have it, I didn't have to work Saturday at Kroger, so Leah and I accompanied Mom to Memphis International to pick him up. Brad and I have a really unique relationship--although I don't really break into a sprint and bear-hug him for 5 minutes when I see him, it truly is good to see him, and I hate that we don't get to hang out very much. I guess there's an unspoken love that would only come out if a gun was pointed to our head. Seriously, we're about as different as they come in ALL aspects, and you'd never pick us out of a line of people as being related. But I digress.
One of the reasons that Brad was coming home was because Tony was also coming home (see previous entry). Tony had to go from Kirkuk (Iraq) to Kuwait to Germany to fly to Memphis via Atlanta. So we had NO idea when to expect him. By Saturday, it looked like it might be Monday the 4th. We went back to Mom's and began discussing dinner. We settled on pizza, so we chilled out at Mom's and kinda chatted about things in general.
Not by coincidence, Dad and Mary were in town for the weekend. With Brad's birthday being on the 6th, they had taken the rare opportunity to have the two of them together with the two of us--this SOMETIMES happens on a holiday, but being that they live in Kentucky and he lives in Maryland, it isn't necessarily a given that we'll all see each other at the same time. After lunch, Brad and I met up at the Hampton Inn where Dad was staying, and we visited for a bit. Dad had planned a family gathering, and Brad decided upon Smokey Bones, a place new to the Memphis area, but that had gotten decent reviews from people that have gone. We did a quick trip to the Wolfchase Galleria (I bought some new khakis and a golf shirt, and Leah bought some maternity wear), and then it was over to the restaurant for dinner. I had ribs, and they were definitely good. Not really uniquely Memphis or anything, but then again, they don't claim to be.
Monday, we heard from Tony and he said that he was delayed in Germany, and it would be Tuesday before he got in. We hadn't really planned any typical "4th" activities (fireworks, etc), but decided upon a cookout-type deal at my house. Leah and I needed to go to the grocery store anyway, so off we went. The menu was to be cheeseburgers, and Brad requested Rotel AND Pancho's cheese dip. Freak. And what would summer be without homemade ice cream? We had a good time and ate plenty of food. The highlight of the night? Brad mentioned maybe getting a Dance Dance Revolution game sometime in the future for his Playstation. Oh, you mean, like the one that I have? So we broke out the mat and starting "cuttin' a rug" in my living room. I hadn't really played it a lot since buying it in January, so it was a learning experience for us all. By the end of the night, we had Mom, Brad, me, and even Leah (the pregnant one) doing arrow-directed dance steps. Fun (and sweaty) times.
Tuesday, Tony and his entourage wanted to experience more Memphis stuff, so it was off to downtown to partake of "porkcicles", as my father-in-law refers to them. That's right.....In an alley off of Madison, lies the entrance to Rendezvous. It has been quite some time since I had been there--probably several years ago when Jen and Scott were in town and I lifted a small Michelob pilsner glass. Oops, did I say that?? (Hopefully the statute of limitations is up.) Parking was a bit more of a challenge since the Redbirds were playing, but amazingly enough, we found an unoccupied parking meter (read: FREE after 5:00PM) space on 3rd street, and we were in the door and seated after a brief 2-3 minute wait. Brad and I split a large rack o' ribs, as well as a pitcher of cold brew. True brotherhood bonding at its finest.
Wednesday, Leah and I wanted to chill at home, so that we did. Instead of "calm before the storm", it was more like, "Calm between the storms." She was pretty exhausted from our busy week thus far, so we decided to chill.
Thursday found us eating BBQ for yet another time that week. Brad's birthday is July 6, and Tony's is July 7. This time it was off to Corky's for a bit of a birthday shindig for the two of them. I did NOT have ribs this time--it was a class BBQ pork sandwich and a side of beans. Mom had gotten them BOTH a cake, so two different sets of candles was brought out and blown out by the respective honorees. Brad got lots of loot, which made it all the more interesting in planning for his flight home. I ended up lending him a suitcase for all of his crap, I mean, stuff.
All in all, it was a fun, but tiring week. But Leah and I both enjoyed it. Since moving to D.C., Brad's visits to Memphis have largely been event- or holiday-driven. Let's face it, when he's in town for our grandfather's funeral, you aren't really in a mood to go hang at Rendezvous or grab a beer at his favorite watering hole. I specifically took vacation time from Kroger that week to spend time with him and Tony. Yes, I still had to work during the day, but it still gave us time to hang out--something we really haven't done much of since he moved away. Come to think of it, we didn't hang out much when he WAS here...I must snap out of this guilt-ridden obligation!!!!
Brad flew in on Saturday, July 2. Thanks to the internet, we had kept up with updated arrival times and such. As luck would have it, I didn't have to work Saturday at Kroger, so Leah and I accompanied Mom to Memphis International to pick him up. Brad and I have a really unique relationship--although I don't really break into a sprint and bear-hug him for 5 minutes when I see him, it truly is good to see him, and I hate that we don't get to hang out very much. I guess there's an unspoken love that would only come out if a gun was pointed to our head. Seriously, we're about as different as they come in ALL aspects, and you'd never pick us out of a line of people as being related. But I digress.
One of the reasons that Brad was coming home was because Tony was also coming home (see previous entry). Tony had to go from Kirkuk (Iraq) to Kuwait to Germany to fly to Memphis via Atlanta. So we had NO idea when to expect him. By Saturday, it looked like it might be Monday the 4th. We went back to Mom's and began discussing dinner. We settled on pizza, so we chilled out at Mom's and kinda chatted about things in general.
Not by coincidence, Dad and Mary were in town for the weekend. With Brad's birthday being on the 6th, they had taken the rare opportunity to have the two of them together with the two of us--this SOMETIMES happens on a holiday, but being that they live in Kentucky and he lives in Maryland, it isn't necessarily a given that we'll all see each other at the same time. After lunch, Brad and I met up at the Hampton Inn where Dad was staying, and we visited for a bit. Dad had planned a family gathering, and Brad decided upon Smokey Bones, a place new to the Memphis area, but that had gotten decent reviews from people that have gone. We did a quick trip to the Wolfchase Galleria (I bought some new khakis and a golf shirt, and Leah bought some maternity wear), and then it was over to the restaurant for dinner. I had ribs, and they were definitely good. Not really uniquely Memphis or anything, but then again, they don't claim to be.
Monday, we heard from Tony and he said that he was delayed in Germany, and it would be Tuesday before he got in. We hadn't really planned any typical "4th" activities (fireworks, etc), but decided upon a cookout-type deal at my house. Leah and I needed to go to the grocery store anyway, so off we went. The menu was to be cheeseburgers, and Brad requested Rotel AND Pancho's cheese dip. Freak. And what would summer be without homemade ice cream? We had a good time and ate plenty of food. The highlight of the night? Brad mentioned maybe getting a Dance Dance Revolution game sometime in the future for his Playstation. Oh, you mean, like the one that I have? So we broke out the mat and starting "cuttin' a rug" in my living room. I hadn't really played it a lot since buying it in January, so it was a learning experience for us all. By the end of the night, we had Mom, Brad, me, and even Leah (the pregnant one) doing arrow-directed dance steps. Fun (and sweaty) times.
Tuesday, Tony and his entourage wanted to experience more Memphis stuff, so it was off to downtown to partake of "porkcicles", as my father-in-law refers to them. That's right.....In an alley off of Madison, lies the entrance to Rendezvous. It has been quite some time since I had been there--probably several years ago when Jen and Scott were in town and I lifted a small Michelob pilsner glass. Oops, did I say that?? (Hopefully the statute of limitations is up.) Parking was a bit more of a challenge since the Redbirds were playing, but amazingly enough, we found an unoccupied parking meter (read: FREE after 5:00PM) space on 3rd street, and we were in the door and seated after a brief 2-3 minute wait. Brad and I split a large rack o' ribs, as well as a pitcher of cold brew. True brotherhood bonding at its finest.
Wednesday, Leah and I wanted to chill at home, so that we did. Instead of "calm before the storm", it was more like, "Calm between the storms." She was pretty exhausted from our busy week thus far, so we decided to chill.
Thursday found us eating BBQ for yet another time that week. Brad's birthday is July 6, and Tony's is July 7. This time it was off to Corky's for a bit of a birthday shindig for the two of them. I did NOT have ribs this time--it was a class BBQ pork sandwich and a side of beans. Mom had gotten them BOTH a cake, so two different sets of candles was brought out and blown out by the respective honorees. Brad got lots of loot, which made it all the more interesting in planning for his flight home. I ended up lending him a suitcase for all of his crap, I mean, stuff.
All in all, it was a fun, but tiring week. But Leah and I both enjoyed it. Since moving to D.C., Brad's visits to Memphis have largely been event- or holiday-driven. Let's face it, when he's in town for our grandfather's funeral, you aren't really in a mood to go hang at Rendezvous or grab a beer at his favorite watering hole. I specifically took vacation time from Kroger that week to spend time with him and Tony. Yes, I still had to work during the day, but it still gave us time to hang out--something we really haven't done much of since he moved away. Come to think of it, we didn't hang out much when he WAS here...I must snap out of this guilt-ridden obligation!!!!
posted by Eric C at 4:55 PM
1 Comments:
This post should be titled, "Brad came to town and we went out to eat a lot," LOL. I can't wait to be back home in Memphis for a few days next week, and plan on many, many trips to local BBQ places.
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