Good Times on St. Paddy's Day

I celebrated St. Patrick's Day early and often. After hauling several station wagonloads of firewood from down in the "swamp" I played the piano at Moore Regional Hospital in the afternoon. Chipper accompanied me on the piano (in a way) and we both remembered the wearin' o' the green. Not that I think anyone would have pinched us!

Just as I was preparing to begin playing, a young lady came by, looked at Chipper, and remarked, "I dated a guy who looked like him once." ("Hmm. . . just once," I thought)


Judy and I were invited out for a nice Italian St. Patrick's Day dinner by this bunch of Steel Magnolias. What do these lovely ladies have in common? Pam, Beth, and Margie were my teacher assistants for the FINAL 10 YEARS of my career! Amazing that they'll still speak to me! They put up with a lot and became as close as family during our time together. This was Pam's brainstorm to help me celebrate my birthday a couple of days early (Hint: the last full day of winter this year). I am so thankful to have had friends like these to share my classroom and all the wonderful memories of those 10 years. And I'm even more thankful that we remain close friends.

Pam's husband Dennis and daughter Madison were also along for the festivities. Madison had recently won State honors in the Reflections art contest. She honored me with my own personal copy of her winning entry: the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains with a river of raging rapids. I will always treasure it.

The birthday happens to coincide with UNC's first round NCAA ballgame with Radford College, so a victory should be a bonus present. And for Tywan Lawson to be healthy by then would be the icing on the cake--so to speak!