But before I get to that. . . . . . When Patti and I were getting ready to tour the Screen Gems company, I looked at my phone and realized that the date was 9/10/11!! So I calculated that at 12:13 pm it would be 9/10/11/12:13. So I set the alarm on my phone to let me know when that happened.
Well, the tour started at noon, and we were asked to silence our phones. Which I did. It bears mentioning that the crowd that showed up to tour the television/movie studios was a decidedly different clientele than the ones that we had encountered at the historic mansions the day before. As a matter of fact, at the mansions the word "crowd" would not have even applied. Even "group" was stretching it. So picture about 50 or more One Tree Hill fanatics (another reason why it is reasonable to assume that I was the oldest person on the tour) crowding behind the guide to try to be first to enter the set for this show. Well, shortly after the group started forming outside the set, my alarm went off. (Note to self: putting the phone on "vibrate" does not silence the alarm.) There were the prerequisite dirty looks from the others as I fumbled for my phone ("Oh yeah, like you young whippersnappers never had YOUR phone go off before!!!!"). So in an effort to justify my faux pas, I sheepishly announced: "For the record, it is now 9/10/11 - 12:13!!!" Everyone looked at me like I was demented (well, I WAS the oldest!). Patti started to inch away from me so that people would not realize we were together. NOBODY got it. But Patti speculated that later in the day they would realize what I was saying and bemoan that they had not been more appreciative of the moment or my efforts. . . . .Or maybe that wouldn't have happend!
ANYHOO. . . . . . I left Patti's around 8:30 yesterday morning, and had a relatively uneventful drive to Dave's. . . . 7 hours almost exactly. I saw Dave briefly, unloaded the car, and headed for Casey's house in Herndon. The first Redskins game of the season was on, and there was no way Casey was going to leave for DC until the end of that game. I arrived around half-time, and we had a great time watching the Redskins beat the Giants! New players look great, Rex Grossman was impressive as the new starting quarterback. . . and the Giants went down. Very satisfying!
We decided to drive to DC instead of using Metro. We parked at the hotel. Casey had gotten us two rooms at the Crowne Plaza Hamilton. . . . only about 6-8 blocks from the Reagan Building where the lecture was going to be the next day.
We checked in and strolled the streets for awhile. Then went back to the hotel and got a seat outside on the street to have a late dinner. We shut that place down and then retired to the bar where the end of the Dallas game was on. In what certainly was a Washington, DC miracle, Dallas lost to the Jets. Greatest football night ever! Casey and I talked and talked and laughed. What good company he is!
We were up this morning in time to walk down to the Reagan Building and grab a quick breakfast in the food court before going to the amphitheater to see Paul Farmer speak about his work in Haiti, and his book Haiti After the Hurricane. He was great. I enjoyed seeing him so much at Chautauqua as the very first lecturer of the summer. That Casey took my word about him, and got us the tickets and took time off work to go with me is the most gratifying part of all of this.
After the talk we went back and checked out of the hotel. We had a wonderful lunch at a new restaurant in Herndon and then I drove him to Dulles to catch a flight for Colorado where he is working in Boulder for the next couple of days.
A glorious time with my son. I'll hang out here tomorrow before my Choral Arts rehearsal. Hope I can have lunch with Chad tomorrow. Then I'm going home to hopefully meet with my builder. I'm so anxious to get this house started!
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