WHERE DO I BEGIN?

Let's start with Thunder Beach. Chris went down last Thursday on the moto with our friend and neighbor Bob who also has a motorcycle. He and his wife, Sheree, have a house in PC so that's where we stayed. I decided not to go down until Friday (Sheree was also supposed to drive down Friday but got cold feet I guess and decided a biker chick she is not!). I got down there Friday and thought maybe Chris and Bob would hop in the car with me and we would go grab a bite to eat. Not so. As soon as I got out of the car, Chris says, "Ok, go put some jeans on, we're going riding." Before that day, I had never even been on the back of a motorcycle with Chris. To say I was nervous was an understatement. I had an absolute FEAR where that motorcycle was concerned. And up until that point, I had sworn I would NEVER get on the back of that Harley with him. I told him I thought it was selfish that he even got the thing. How could he spend the money he spent on that when only he could enjoy it? He kept telling me that if I could ever just get over my fear and get on the back of it with him, I would love it - that he got it for us to do and enjoy together. Boy was he right and boy did I have to eat crow! I prayed traveling mercies (as I always do anyway when I'm on the road but I don't think I've ever prayed them like that), and we were off. I was so nervous when we first took off you couldn't have put a piece of pine straw up my butt. :) But after that initial "take off" and after the first couple of turns (because I had been coached on how to get on and off of it and what to do, rather not to do when we turned), I was having a blast. There's something so freeing about conquering a fear. I try not to judge people anyway because I know how it feels to be judged, but this weekend really proved to me the old adage, "You can't judge a book by its cover." I saw more leather, mom-jeans, and skin there than I think I've ever seen, and I've been to a fair share of NASCAR races (Talladega mostly). So I thought I had seen it all. Not so. But everyone we met was so genuine, so real. They weren't trying to be someone they're not and they didn't care what anyone else thought. They are who they are. I admire that. We ended up meeting up with Bob's brother and his friends, a few friends of ours who were down there who met up with some of their friends who called some of their friends and so on, so it ended up being a pretty big group of us. The weather was beautiful and everyone stayed safe, PTL! I'm waiting on pictures from the designated "photographer" of the group. My camera was the last thing on my mind while I was riding. I did take quite a few with my phone but it's a Palm which should also stand for POS and decided to stop working right before I got ready to load them. Not only were there a lot of pics from that weekend but some really really good ones of the boys were on there. I'm so ticked. Don't ever get a Palm. It's been issue after issue. Sorry. Tangent. Here are a couple of pictures we happened to make it home with:

My man on the MLC Mobile (yes, that's a Harley "shirt" he's wearing):

This was just the back 1/4 of a parking lot:

This one was $75,000.00 - HUH?:

We saw someone actually wearing this shirt with just a couple of pasties: I purposely sought her out to meet her and she was one of the nicest people I've ever met.

I never thought in my wildest dreams it would be that much fun. I'm not quite ready for the leather chaps yet, but we're already trying to figure out how we can take our camper to the big rally in Daytona which we hear makes the one in PCB seem prudish! WOW!

Yesterday, Chris' oldest brother, Kenneth Hamrick, was in town. Chris' mom and Kenneth came by for a visit and dinner. We only get to see him about once a year so we try to make the most of his visits. He is one of the most talented, gifted, intelligent, intriguing people I've ever met. Here is a brief bio:

Conductor, keyboard soloist and musicologist Kenneth Hamrick has been featured and a top prizewinner at many major festivals and competitions. With The American Virtuosi and as Director of the Baroque Opera Institute, his innovative performances and recordings have been critically acclaimed, including new stagings of 17th and 18th century operas. He has performed with soloists and ensembles from the NY Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera, and has also collaborated with tap legend Savion Glover and the Limón Dance Company on projects involving both baroque harpsichord concertos and jazz improvisation. In that role, he is music director and harpsichord soloist in concertos by Vivaldi, Piazzolla and Bach mixed with jazz improvisation. He participates in an international scholar exchange program in Budapest and Moscow, and has received two Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities.

"A thrilling performance... sensational playing with a refined elegance"

–The New York Times

Trust me when I tell you that is an ever-so-brief bio. It goes on and on. He's completed projects at Yale and Princeton as well as many, many international projects. The one I was most excited about was Classical Savion - in a nutshell, tap dancing with classical music. Chris and I got the opportunity to travel to New York when he was touring with Savion Glover for Classical Savion, and it was phenomenal. I started dancing when I was 3 years old so I've always known who Savion Glover was. I so vividly remember Kenneth sitting in my living room during one of his visits before deciding to partner with Savion saying, there's this guy, Savion Glover, he's some tap dancer I may be doing some work with. He was so non-chalant about it all. I almost fell off the couch. He has another project in the works which would take him to China for a tour. Unfortunately, our visits are usually quite short. I hope to get the chance one day to sit down with him and journal everything he's done. His life fascinates me. Here he is yesterday, Gucci shoes and all, pushing the boys on the swing set (I wonder the last time he's had a drink out of a Solo cup - HA!):

Really? He's Chris' brother? Really? Hard to believe they have the same blood running through their veins!

And I just liked this one of Chris watching them:

And I'll leave you with this picture:

HAPPY FRIDAY, Y'ALL!!!