Weekend Review

I’m taking a little break from the Sunday standard post- the Monday Music Review- because my weekend was too much fun to wait until tomorrow to tell you about.

I went back to my hometown to work the Toughman competition on Friday and Saturday nights. If you’ve never been to a Toughman, there really are no words to do it justice. People come in from off the street, training is not required and the skill levels range from “I hit the bag in the gym every day” to “I’ve watched some fights on TV” and cover everything in between. Friday night, there were 32 fighters, in four weight classes. The winners came back on Saturday to continue the eliminations and to fight in “championship” fights for cash. I’m still not sure what possesses anyone to want to participate in a Toughman but the guys in the competition seemed to really be enjoying themselves and they were as nice and friendly as they could be. I may or may not have made some friends… that’s another story for another day.

And guess who else really enjoyed himself? My dad! Now before you go and get all excited, no, he wasn’t IN the fights. He came to the fights with the Rescue Squad as medical support. And since he’s been on the Rescue Squad for as long as I can remember, I knew almost everyone who was with him. It felt like old times, when I used to run into “chaperones” everywhere I went. Apparently, there’s a brotherhood in the Rescue Squad (and Fire Department too) that the guys look after each others’ kids so growing up, I knew no matter where I went, there was someone there if I needed anything (and someone there to report any of my misbehaviors back to dad!) I’m sure dad doesn’t know how many times his roles on the Rescue Squad and Fire Department kept me out of trouble… or maybe he does. Regardless, I wouldn’t change my continually chaperoned upbringing for anything in the world.

After the fight, Dad made some world famous grilled cheese sandwiches (yeah, we let Mom have one too!) and it felt like the good old days when he’d make late night cheese sandwiches and we’d stay up talking. I wonder if parents and kids talk these days like we did back then. If they don’t, they surely should.

And, we went to the firing range and wreaked some havoc on some paper targets. And, in true dad fashion, he took the targets to the fight to show my mad skill set to his buddies. I’m thinking he’s just a smidgen proud of his baby girl. J

And, no worries, Mom wasn’t left out of this fun family weekend! She and I did a little shopping and the saleslady thought we were sisters. I think that made Mom’s day! And, when the fifth person told me, “You look just like your mom”, I decided that perhaps I don’t need a crystal ball to tell me what I’ll look like in the future.

So, today I left the hometown and headed back to the big city and there may or may not have been tears. Maybe it was all the quality time with Mom and Dad that did it (but don’t tell them that, they like to think I’m doing just fine in the big city.) We’ll just say that there’s something about a 32 man brawl that makes me miss home. J