Even though it wasn't as long as I wished, this was a wonderful Epic Weekend In Pictures. I was able to drive up to New England and see my amazing family. This year presented some rather Epic challenges, due to the weekend snow. Between the forecast calling for Saturday to start off with rain, then snow and wind, we weren't sure if I would be able to make it back home and see my family. By Friday night my sister Suzanne texted me saying "Mom and I are talking, Steve if the weather is too bad, just stay safe in Jersey, don't worry about trying to make it back up here." I told her that it would take a heck of a storm to keep me here and not let me see them, but even I had to admit if the storm was too bad, the situation might not be my choice anyway.
Friday afternoon did get off to a great start when my friends at Father John's Animal House let me know my Adopt A Pet Of The Week went home to her new furever family in less than 24 hours of being on my radio show. That's one way to always start my Epic Weekend In Pictures off with a smile!
Friday night I met up with a friend for dinner at Miller's Ale House by Rockaway Mall. Even though I have always liked it there and find they have a strong variety of options with their menu, I made a little mistake. I ordered a different flavor of wings than normal, which is partially because it's been a few months since going there - I kinda forgot what I normally like. Whoops. Either way, I know I was just mentally off Friday night because I was stressed about whether or not I would be able to go home and see my family. This was my first time going back since December. Even though it was a very brief visit, I was there for I think 26 hours, I reminded my family that despite it being a bit of driving for a short time, we've come a long way from a year and a half ago when I needed to produce a Negative Covid Test result to legally travel and visit them. Some friends suggested that I should drive up late Friday night to beat out the storm as its path was going to basically follow me from Vernon, New Jersey to Mansfield, Massachusetts. For me, that wasn't an option. I'm old and hate driving at night, I feel more sensitive to bright lights than I used to be years ago. I would much rather wake up early in the morning and hit the road. After all those years I worked with my morning radio shows in Boston waking up at 2:30-3am everyday, one of my old Program Director friends joked that after a few years, you're ruined forever. Very true. I think that's partially why I'm so fine having dinner foods for breakfast.
1 of 3 Photo: Nice sunset at Rockaway mall
2 of 3 Photo: Wedding Crashers!
3 of 3 Photo: Let's party!
Saturday morning I was up by 4, couldn't fall back asleep. I ended up on my couch, and eventually apparently did fall back asleep. I looked up at my clock and saw that it was 6:25am. BLEEP. I wanted to be on the road by 6:00am to try and beat the storm. Ah well. I was still out and front ahead of the storm even leaving at 6:30am.
Boom. I was able to make it to Mansfield and see my parents by 10:30am, 4 hours door to door which is about as good a drive as you can get with this route, the 84 to 90 to 495 way. It was so relieving getting to hug my parents and sister in person, after being so worried the day before that it might not happen. I'm so blessed to have my amazing family.
They asked me what my plans were. I usually have an itinerary of places / stops / friends to see. This time around, I really didn't plan much because of all the uncertainty with the storm. If it's too unsafe out there, I really don't want my family and friends driving in bad weather just to see me. Then, even if the weather is okay, if there's snow on the ground, tougher to park at my parents neighborhood. My only Saturday afternoon goal was to go to Bog Iron Brewery in Norton, Ma. It's basically the home bar for my family, and whenever I visit they treat me like family there too. It was great to see them. Also, because my parents Madre and Padre were so busy getting set up for the party, it ended up being just me and my sister Zannie. We ended up hanging out for a couple hours just me and her, having a great time. While we're close, I can't remember the last time it was just me and Zannie hanging out, just the two of us. We had fun.
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Saturday night, time to party! My family came over. This event was a smaller scale than normal pre-pandemic years, likely due to the weather. We received a coating of snow up in New England, whereas I heard here in Sussex County we received a few inches of snow.
It was so amazing getting to see my wonderful family. Getting to laugh along with Grammy - aka Captain Chaos, Leisure Uncle Paul, Aunty Donna, Cousin Matt, Aunty Peg, Uncle Buck, Auntie Soup (Sue,) JDawg, and our friends Mark and Kelsea. The last couple of years even a gathering of this size wouldn't have been possible. I'm so happy we were able to get together.
Sunday it was time for our farewell lunch, I picked nearby Jake & Joe's, a sports bar chain based in New England. I had a great medium rare plain hamburger, which allowed my family the opportunity to bust on me for not liking cheese. We had a great time just the 5 of us, me, JDawg, Madre, Padre and Zannie.
I was back in my living room by 6pm. I was unwinding trying to power down watching NFL Network's offseason coverage. Then just after 7, BOOM. They reported that Tom Brady was coming out of retirement. As much as I miss him playing for my New England Patriots, I'm very happy that we all get to keep watching him for another year. The NFL is definitely more fun with Tom Brady in it, that's for sure. So my phone was blowing up the rest of Sunday night of course lol.
Even though it was much quicker than preferred, I still had a great weekend seeing my family. Now time to start planning next weekend, Backpack Snacks For Kids returns!
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