Yeah........well.
"Wish I had a stretch of road
That goes for miles and miles
Never have to wonder which way to go
It takes me where the weather is mild
Just takes me where the weather is mild."
-from "Green Eyed Girl" by Greg Trooper
I was going to do a post whining about getting old on this, my birthday, but I've decided not to.
Took the wife and kids out to dinner last night, and on the drive there, I realized that I have it good.
I have not said much in previous posts about my wife. This August will be our 19th anniversary. I was married once before for 5 years, with no children, a part of my life that I now consider to be a huge mistake. A couple of years after that, I got remarried. I cannot believe what a difference this woman has made in my life. So many things changed dramatically after we got married.
I have never shared so many things in common with a woman. She is my best friend, indeed, she is the best friend I have ever had. We see eye to eye on all the important stuff like child raising, where to live etc. She loves the things I love, believes in me and gives me everything she has to give. I have shared childbirth with her, and by doing so, came to realize that it is the greatest gift a woman can give to a man. She has a heart as big as the Ritz, she's kind and tough, sweet and sarcastic. I've never met a more generous person. Whenever I listen to John Prine's song "Christmas in Prison" I think of her when I hear the lines:
"She reminds me of a chess game with someone I admire,
Or a picnic in the rain after a prairie fire.
Her heart is as big as this whole goddam jail,
And she's sweeter'n saccharine at a drugstore sale.
.......and I dream of her always
Even when I don't dream
Her name's on my tongue
And her blood's in my stream."
On top of all this she is drop dead gorgeous. Big beautiful blue eyes, long hair with golden highlights, a great figure, what a knockout.
So, I'm driving to dinner last night with this wonderful woman next to me, holding my hand, and I started thinking about how great I really have it.
We went to dinner last night at a restaurant I had read a great review on in the local paper. It's called Belly Italiano (yeah, Jim, I know, yuk yuk). It's on the top floor of the new high rise that was built at the Indian casino, Casino Morongo. Beautiful views as the review had said, but that was about it. It seems that every time I go somewhere based on a review, I am disappointed. Maybe it builds up false hopes. This place was very upscale, nice decor, large LED screens showing famous works of art that changed every ten minutes or so. Cool stuff that makes you think the food will be the same. It wasn't. The best dish was an appetizer called Crudos which was 4 pieces each of 4 different kinds of raw fish with olive oil, lemon, garlic and tomato. Very nice. But of course, raw fresh fish is my all time favorite food. The rest of the dinner was good, but definitely not fantastic. Only the prices were fantastic. Add to that the fact that my daughter was doing a 17 year old attitude thing, and well, you get the picture. I ended up wishing we had just gone to my favorite sushi place.
The worst part about this birthday weekend is that I am on call. So no single malt scotch chased with a nice lager. So today I'm going to build a new set of wheels for the Cinelli and watch the Tour of Georgia. Things could be worse, I suppose.
Sure wish I could find my cycling motivation. I haven't ridden in about 3 weeks.
