A Weekend of Luck...

Life gives the ebb and flow of tragedy, triumph, good luck, bad luck...

Last year, ebb...no flow...bad luck...not good luck. Anytime someone goes to the hospital in my family I casually say, "Okay, looks like another funeral to attend eh?" Call me a morose motherfucker. But that's how I see it...if it's your time, you're generally not ready. We don't make plans to die or check out, or get sick for that matter. Henceforth, you see why I enjoyed New Orleans so (err, too) much.

But don't forget that tragedy is part of life's great adventure, the great story we all get to live in triumph as it all passes us. There is plenty of SUCK in life, but goddammit there is plenty of good stuff too.

Enter our most recent weekend.

Set the scene...two days off...gala to attend...some errands to run...so here we go.

Saturday was like the epic deal day. Seriously, there are some days when you go to the store and they bend you over without any lube. You know you're getting soaked, and you just take it. But there are days like Saturday...

On our way to pick up our new Breville Elite Juicer, we take our Cuisinart Wine fridge hoping for a return. We received the wine fridge for our wedding, 11 bottle capacity. Within a year, it burned out, got replaced for free and upgraded to a 12 bottle fridge. Burned out as well...sat in the basement for 6 months and pretty much exceeded the warranty send back rule.

Two words....CRATE AND BARREL...okay, three. Register here for gifts...they took our crapped out wine cellar, and upgraded us to a 16 bottle fridge..no cost...SCORE! Fuck Macy's is all I have to say...worst and dumbest employees we have ever dealt with...they put the IN in INCOMPETENT. Move on from the wrath...walk slowly, deep breaths...ok.

Breville Juicer, check, fruit, veggies...check, new wine fridge, check...tux pants altered and some new AWESOME fox head gold studs with ruby eyes for my tux shirt...check (Thank you Mary Ellen for such a BEAUTIFUL gift for my birthday, they were her husband Mike's...so it's an honor).

Top that off with a new find called "Punk's Backyard Grill" for lunch, and we were rockin. By the way, Punk's Backyard Grill serves all the local fresh stuff and made to order with a sick selection of microbrews. Hell, they even have beer tasting/pairing classes. The owner makes his own brew, so there is your seal of approval!

Got home, unpacked all the new goodies, went for a 4 mile trail run with the dog and got ready for our gala. The gala was absolutely spectacular and an honor to attend. Our bosses were really nice to invite my wife and allow her husband (me) out in public...I even got to change underwear, shampoo, and shower...epic. Phenomenal party band playing anything from Michael Jackson (the black years) to Black Eyed Peas. So you're reading this and saying, "sure you had a great day, things went your way, good for you".

You're damn right good for us because here is the kicker..."Mr. Buzz" started kicking in, and they made the announcement that the silent auction was closing in 10 minutes. Like any good husband I requested the ability to scout a few of the items to see how much damage they could do.

And I found the 5-night, 6-day trip to Chile...the Andes mountains, to a posh little ski resort valued WAY MORE than it had been bid on. One flick of the wrist and bid number was chicken scratched as the highest bidder. With minutes to go, the CMO of the hospital outbid us and I said to Meg, "No way we can win now"...at that moment he looked back and said, "Oh my god...you guys are bidding on this? Oh, I'm so sorry, go ahead, we've been, it's lovely, you all take it"...

When the dust settled our little bid number stood alone, and we were high fiving each other at the randomness of winning a trip to Chile...such luck...such fortune.

Our night and entire weekend has become known as "The Deal Weekend"...just when you think there is no customer service left, or kindness, or cooler side of the pillow, your faith gets renewed. The little things, so lovely, so great. And by the way, did you see how great my wife looked in that dress?