Carpe Diem

The car is packed and I'll hit the road to Perdido Key early (very early) tomorrow morning.  I'm making a stop at my daughter's place in High Springs to meet one of our group, Paula, who is driving down from Bluffton, SC.  My drive is a little under 3 hours and hers is a tad over 3 hours.  We'll leave her car there and continue to Perdido Key, another 5 hours.  Our other Irresistibles will be coming from the opposite direction on I-10.  Jane, who has been on the road from Timberon, New Mexico since Tuesday, is timing her travel to pick up Gail (flying in from Waterloo, IA) at the mobile airport.  They'll have a little over an hour's drive from the airport to the condo on Perdido Key.

We are hoping to get to the beach front penthouse condo in time to ice some glasses and make Mint Juleps, don our beach hats, and cheer our favorite horse(s) to a win at the Kentucky Derby.

My favorite is the winner of the Tampa Bay Derby, "Carpe Diem."  Since we are all "seizing the day" to finally get together again, it seems a fitting choice to me.  I love the name and it reminded me of one of my favorite Robin Williams performances in "Dead Poet's Society."

"They're not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they're destined for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it?— Carpe— hear it?— Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary."

I hope Carpe Diem realizes an extraordinary win tomorrow.

My high school Latin teacher, Mrs. Mears, would be so happy with this post.  She was always giving us a point or two extra credit when we brought examples of daily use of this supposedly "dead" language to her.  Her husband was the Principal of Douglas Southall Freeman High School in Henrico County, Virginia when I attended from 1961-1964.  He could be pretty stern, but Mrs. Mears had him beat by a mile.  NO ONE crossed her.  Yet she was my second favorite teacher.  And I remember her well.  Over 50 years ago now and Mrs. Mears is long gone as she was close to retirement back then.

My girlfriends and I will be seizing several days together from tomorrow until we have to leave on Thursday to head back to our very different lives.  We tend to laugh a lot and talk a lot.  I'll miss Butch and Beau, and will be happy to come home to them.  But, it's been a long and busy year and I am ready for a few days of R & R.

Tomorrow, I'll have some of my own photos taken on Day 1 of this latest meeting of some Irresistible women.

“You can be gorgeous at thirty, charming at forty, and irresistible for the rest of your life.” 
― Coco Chanel"

What are they saying now? "60 is the new 40?"  If so, our group is now "charmingly irresistible."