Monday, May 12, 2008

The Most Incredible Mother's Day

**WARNING**
LENGTHY POST

Yesterday was an odd, yet wonderful Mother's Day. It ranks right up there as one of, if not my favorite Mother's Days ever. Another high ranking Mother's Day was when the kids were small. It was a chilly, rainy day and when we came home from church Todd and the kids went to take naps. I laid on the couch and watched my gift of Breakfast at Tiffany's all by myself. Then I dozed off and when we all woke up we had a nice dinner. But yesterday Todd, Taylor, Katie and I walked the Philadelphia Race for the Cure with three other families. Thankfully my prayers were answered and my cold never turned into much of anything.

**WARNING**
PG-13

I'm going to give this post a PG-13 rating. There were a couple times I forgot where I was and thought I was in the Big Easy. I kept waiting for beads to be thrown! Well, maybe it wasn't quite like that. But you'll see what I'm talking about.


We had to get up at five-bloody-o'clock in the morning. Not such a great start to Mother's Day when you're the least morning person you know. We met our friends at the movie theater and then caravanned into the city. Mario Andretti led the pack and had scoped out a cherry parking place. And let me tell you - good parking places in the city the morning of the Race are hot commodities. So yeah - we're definitely taking him with us next year.



The term "5K" is a bit misleading in my opinion. Maybe if you get dropped off right at the starting line and picked up right at the finish line. But when you factor in walking from the car to the race area, walking from wherever you are to the starting line, mulling around after the race and then finally, walking to your car you're talking more like a 8.64K. But I guess that doesn't sound good so we'll stay with the 5K.

We set out walking for the "staging area" and passed a car being towed.



I'm not sure why I thought it was blog-worthy, but I did. So there it is.

After walking about a mile (according to Mapquest) we got to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.



I left my party and crossed the street to venture up the Rocky steps for the Survivor's Parade. According to the announcer there were roughly 6,000 survivors. I don't believe there were that many on the steps, but that's how many had registered for the walk.

Todd's perspective:

Me hanging out before the parade:




My perspective:

Before the Parade:
















The Art Museum flag at half mast in respect for the fallen Philadelphia police officer, Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski:

The parade begins:

The crowd watching and cheering:

I had one of Todd's hankies in my pocket because I was a little concerned about the emotion of it all. While I did get a little misty, I didn't end up a blubbering mass. It was all kind of surreal. Maybe it was the early hour or maybe the lack of coffee. But it was almost like I was watching it -- not a part of it. And yet at the same time it was incredible to be a part of it.

Making my way through the crowd to the big statue where my party was waiting I came across this interesting statement:


For a confusing second I forgot where I was. Bourbon Street or Benjamin Franklin Parkway...


A Philadelphia bakery made this special cake. Wish I would have gotten a piece. Wonder what kind it was.



Here's a guy's t-shirt admired greatly by Todd




And these great bags for sale on the parkway

Finally it was time to make our way over to the starting line. Random pictures of the race:









At this point we needed to find a restroom. The only port-a-potty we saw was for a construction site behind an 8 foot gate. And then we saw this:


It was as though the clouds parted and heavenly rays guided our paths. Some in the group were thinking, Yea! A bathroom!! I was thinking, Bitchen! A venti White Chocolate Mocha with double whip to go!

The Starbuck's was in the lobby of luxury condominiums which meant restrooms. Unfortunately, several other people had beat us to them. I'm not sure who thought of it, but the girls in our group ended up going in an Irish bar - Tir Na Nog - not yet opened for business.



The best part was the bathrooms were clean!!

I skipped the refreshment and we continued on. Just sixteen people among the masses.


Somewhere along the line I met a man who was a breast cancer survivor. He was the only man in pink I saw, but there may have been others. Funny thing is his wife is an 8th grade science teacher at the school Katie will go to next year. Even funnier thing is his dad used to be a minister at a church in Redondo Beach - where I grew up. Small world.

After about 2 miles or so we saw a sign indicating we'd walked 1 mile. *sigh* So we kept going. And going. Then we passed the 2 mile sign. So we still kept going. And going. As we crossed the bridge to get back to the Art Museum I snapped a couple of my favorite Philly scenes.

Philadelphia Water Works:

Boathouse Row:

And can I just say this kid had it made!

Finally we finished the race! The local news estimated about 45,000 people doing the race with a total of 100,000 people in the area to support the race in one way or another. That's alotta people!

Two of the families had to leave for Mother's Day lunches with family. That left eight of us to find a place to eat. Originally we had thought to drive back toward home, but as we crossed the freeway we saw the cars were bumper to bumper. So we decided we should eat in the city.

We checked TGIFridays as we were walking by and oh happy day! They had just opened and were able to seat us right away. But that's not the best part. No. The best part was when Alex ordered a raspberry tea and I thought that sounded good so I ordered a raspberry tea. In fact, I think I ordered like this:

I'll have a raspberryteaand... um, parmesan-crusted chicken.

So when the waitress brought us our drinks I noticed my raspberry tea didn't look at all like Alex's raspberry tea. Turns out she thought I said raspberrytini. And because of the kind-hearted soul that I am, I didn't want to make more work for the staff by sending it back and having them bring me a tea. It was quite tasty, though I only drank about half of it.

The other mom, Tina (and the organizer of our team), and I were given a carnation and a yummy little mint chocolate shot glass dessert that tasted like a Girl Scout Thin Mint. After lunch it was a walk around the corner to get the cars. Following a couple failed attempts at finding a decent paced freeway we finally got on the road home. The kids immediately fell asleep. Todd tried to, but he was driving and he thought better of it.

We were so incredibly exhausted by the time we got home. Todd and I both got in a little cat nap here, a little cat nap there, but nothing worthy of being called a true nap. At about 8:00 I went upstairs and hopped into a hot bubble bath. Ahhhh... It was divine. When I woke up (I know, I know. You're never supposed to fall asleep in a bath tub, but I did.) I got out, dried off, threw on jammies and went to bed. And slept the sleep of the dead. Except Todd said I snored all night and I don't think the sleeping dead snore. I blame that on a mix of complete exhaustion and the sinus stuff I've been trying to get, though I don't think I'm getting it anymore.

So that, in a very large coconut shell, was my Mother's Day. Hope all you moms out there enjoyed yours even half as much!

Labels: breast cancer, food, friends, fun, homies, Race for the Cure

Mused by Jenster :: 10:11 AM :: 18 People musing:

Post / Read Comments

---------------oOo---------------