At Garth Brooks’ Ascend show the other night, he performed
one of my favorites of his hits – “Two Pina Coladas.”
Danged if it wasn’t symbolic.
If you enter into a Red Lobster sometime over the next few
days, the chances of seeing me sipping on that tropical beverage are better
than say, the third week in July.
For starters, I love tropical drinks such as that, or the
Bahama Mama, or anything with Pineapple.(Yes, I know you are probably thinking
I am a lightweight. I am. I make no bones about it. But, that’s me.)
But, it’s also personal. I guess you could call the next few
days as what I observe as “Mama Week.” As I write this on October 26, it makes
eleven years since my Mother passed away. Coming up on Sunday, it would have
been her birthday. As a young child, I remember going to Red Lobster frequently
with my parents, and my mother would always order a Pina Colada. I remember she
always gave me the cute little red lobster tail that they poked in the
pineapple on the straw.
You’re probably thinking that I am going to get overly
sentimental with this blog post. I’m not. I’ve been there and done that. I
think in the past eleven years, my mother would be proud of me – more than not.
I’m sure there are things that she wished I would have done different. But,
overall, I don’t think so. At least I hope.
Basically, I felt like I needed to write something about this
week. It used to be one of great sadness for me. But, as time goes by – as many
said it would – you put the good memories in a higher place, and you don’t
focus on the bad. To me, the last week of October used to be one that I
dreaded, or at the very least – looked at with great sadness. Not anymore. Now,
it’s a time of celebration concerning someone who was one of my biggest
supporters.
Celebration. I like that term a lot better. So, bring me two
Pina Coladas this week. It’s that time of the year!
