Aunt Jeanne turned 80 a couple of weeks ago and I was there to watch her cut the cake. Happy Birthday Aunt Jeanne!
Mom and Gia were going down for the whole weekend, hitting up everybody along the way – Mary outside Philly, Katie in Baltimore – it was only a week after we came back from Thailand and I didn’t want to hit the road like that again. Xianyi had to study (of course – that’s how she gets those scholarships, baby!) but I couldn’t miss this.
So I left the house before six on Sunday morning and took the Chinatown bus down to DC – was there before noon and took the metro up to Silver Spring. Mom and Gia picked me up and drove me to the party. A few hours later they drove me back. But rather than go right back, I had other plans.
I skipped over to McGowan’s place for a while, and then Tuck picked us up and we went out to Clyde’s, a DC burger and beer institution. The irony is that, many years ago, while I was a student at Georgetown, Aunt Jeanne took me out for brunch at Clyde’s. This was a different branch though – they have clearly made a ton of dough, as this place is huge.
AND it’s right next to the Chinatown bus, so I was able to run over there right after downing my last beer.
Just as I was thinking how I was so clever and sturdy, pulling off a one-day bus trip to DC, the cold that had been latently hanging around all week hit me with full force. It was kind of a miserable ride back. I arrived in NYC Chinatown after 11 – and that’s not exactly home yet. At night, it seems, the PATH is always a half hour wait. By the time my sick ass crawled into bed it was nearly 1am.
I slept through my alarm on Monday and was feeling awful – had to bag work and sleep in. But I’d still say it was all worth it.