Talk about trying to make up for lost time! Due to scheduling conflicts, I went 4 months without going back home to Massachusetts. I was able to make a quick trip back to Mansfield this weekend, and will be able to go back in two weeks for Christmas. This was definitely a weekend I'll never forget. Even though I wasn't even back home for 24 full hours, I still made every second count. Talk about an action packed weekend.
Friday night I was able to hang with besties Steve and JG. We started at Hef's Hut in Vernon where it was fun to see friends we haven't seen in a few months. We might put that back in our semi regular rotation. We had a great time catching up, and running into more friends too. Bestie Carrie joined us too. JG, Steve and I then ventured over to Kite's for some DJ music fun. Fun night for sure.
Saturday morning I was on the road by 7:15am leaving Vernon, New Jersey en route to Mansfield, Ma. I made great time, 4 hours door to door and was in Mansfield by 11:15am. That's as good as you can do basically with the Jersey to Massachusetts ride and vice versa.
I was very happy to hug my parents after getting home. I was able to give my Dad a ride to the auto repair garage and help him pick up my sister Zannie's car. It's only a ten minute drive from Mansfield to the Norton auto repair garage. It was great seeing our family mechanic Paul. He remembers even my college radio days, that's how far back we go. His dogs were big, loving, silly, and all over me. They also kept play wrestling with each other. We had a great time in his garage, and once he learned that I'm on an iHeartRadio station, Paul was psyched. He said "I can get you on my tv then! Right now I'm listening to WZLX (our legendary Boston classic rock station.) He was able to find WSUS on iHeartRadio, just like we always ask you to do on our radio stations!
Unfortunately, my sister Zannie's car started smoking once parked in our driveway. Didn't last even ten minutes, such a bummer. We called Paul, he immediately reached out to his friends to tow my sister's car back to the garage. Fortunately it was another minor repair, the new cap on a device he replaced chipped and broke a week after opening it. While this was happening, I went over to say hi to my friend Luke Barry. Luke is my friend with autism who's lived next door to my family his whole life. I can't believe he's going to be 19 soon. It's been really amazing watching him grow up, and we're of course honored to be the first ones ever in his legendary birthday parade marches down our street. You can see how great he did at Disney World leading their Christmas special march by clicking here. We are so proud of our friend, Luke.
Luke was very interested in the tow truck when it arrived. He started making small talk with the tow tuck driver. I did a selfie with Luke to distract him and basically let the tow tuck driver get to work towing my sister's car. Overall success. We think Luke took video of the car getting towed onto the bed. He was very excited for this. At 8:59pm Saturday night, he texted me saying Hi Steve. I wrote back "Hi Luke!" and sent him our selfie. Luke then goes on to write "I saw a tow truck from Norton and it has Suzanne's car." I texted him back "It does! It's okay. Suzanne's car we can get back tomorrow!"
Luke then asked "Is it Fogerty's Towing Truck?" He then sent me an invitation to share with him, that Luke shared with me last week. An invitation to his birthday party parade this Saturday December 16th, at 12pm. I wish I could make it, but I'll be working here in Jersey again. He then texts "Can you contact Fogerty's and see if they can come to my birthday parade? Maybe their truck could use a Christmas parade float." That's our Luke. LMAO. My family as I read our text conversation aloud to them. Leave it to Luke, cracking us up and making us smile yet again.
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Saturday afternoon once we got the car towed, I was able to do a quick lunch with my parents at Jake N Joes nearby. My sister Zannie had to work at one of her jobs at Gillette Stadium. It was her coolest day at work ever. Saturday was the first time they played the college football Army Navy game at Gillette Stadium! Talk about an amazing event! The bands, ceremonies, and flyovers! We ran out into the parking lot and were able to catch the helicopters flying over us.
My parents house I grew up in is on the flyover path to Gillette Stadium. We LOVE watching flyovers. Growing up, if at 12:57pm all of the sudden our house starts shaking, we know the flyover is happening. We all yell to each other "FLY OVER FLY OVER!" We then all meet up in the backyard from wherever each of us is in the house to catch it. Fly overs (yes, I'm a total nerd with these) have to be timed out to the exact second with the FAA. Ever notice how they usually don't accidentally fly before the National Anthem ends? That's because they have everything timed out to the second. They have it timed out so much so that, there are times that the jets are slightly too early ahead of schedule. They'll sometimes then stop, and do a little circle above my parents house, and then GUN it right over the stadium after that. It's like we get a free air show in our backyard!
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Saturday night I was able to enjoy the reason that I came home, bestie Matt's Christmas party. This used to be an annual event before the pandemic. It was at that party back in 2018 that I fell on black ice and fractured my wrist. Ever since then, my main goal is to leave these parties without injuring myself. Seriously. It was so great to see besties Matt and Tracy. I was able to also see besties Kayla and Chris, Liz and Tim, and made many more new friends too. Great times by the party with lots of laughs. I had fun catching up my friends on all the fun I've been having these past few months. Kayla got a huge kick out of the fact that I officiated my first wedding, and she heard on the Kelly Ripa podcast that Ryan Seacrest is now officiating his first wedding too. Go figure, I guess it's going around these days. I hope Seacrest has a wonderful experience just like I did. You'll never forget the first time you officiate a wedding, that's for sure!
The biggest laugh at the party definitely was my own dumb fault. They were cooking several things at once as the party started, heating up the kitchen quite a bit. We had the screen door open to let the air in and minimize chances of the smoke detectors going off. It worked great! We were going in and out of the back screen door all night, as the fun party shifted to the backyard. It was a beautiful night where we could enjoy their outdoor fireplace and stay warm. I was starting to say my goodbyes, and go back inside to say more goodbyes. I opened the screen door, not paying attention, and them boom. Whoops. I walked right into their glass slider door. Fortunately, I didn't break anything, didn't hit my head, just my right knee that went right into it. Talk about comedy gold and embarrassment. Everyone was laughing so hard we were all crying. Matt joked "Steve, I thought it was my dog Dusty banging into the door. It was YOU! It was like a bird flying into my glass slider door and bouncing back off it." I yelled at Tracy for doing such a great job cleaning the glass slider door. In my defense, it was the first time they had the glass slider door closed all night. It will still likely be an annual party memory joke.
Thank you so much for reading my Epic Weekend In Pictures. Time to get ready for next weekend. Our first ever 12 Strays Of Christmas! We've been doing our local pet food and supply drive for these past few weeks, and now we'll celebrate by showcasing 12 adoptable pets AT THE SAME time. All in one location at Father John's Animal House at 9:45am this Saturday. After that, Steve Andrews and I will be at Subaru World Of Newton on Route 206 from 11am to 1pm. Here we go!