A Day at the Races

It was last Monday that I received an email message from my friend Erin.

Hey Bryon,

We are going to Keeneland in Lexington on Friday, Oct 14 for the horse races. The kids have the day off from school and we are taking my parents. I thought maybe you might like to join us.

Erin

What a great idea, I thought! I am behind in getting off my ass in my plan to do new things and a trip to a horse track is something I have never done outside of The Kentucky Derby (which should be on everyone's list if you have never done it.)

I knew Keeneland was the home of The Bluegrass Stakes, but what I learned was Keeneland was rated the #1 thoroughbred track in the country in 2009 and is a National Historic Landmark. It is definitely one place everyone should visit at some point in their life.

Friday was an absolute beautiful day to be at the track. It was partly sunny and 68 degrees. I even felt like I had a slight sunburn on my face sitting out all day in the sun.

Keeneland is very small when comparing it to Churchill Downs and the folks there really dress up for the track. It was also college day and there were a lot of lovely young ladies at the track wearing their dresses.

I met up with Aaron and Erin at the track. They had two of their daughters with them and I got to see Erin's mom and dad for the first time in 20+ years.

Through a "connection," Aaron acquired some "hot tips" and we had a plan for how we'd approach the races.

The first race showed promise as we both hit the winner and the exacta! Woo-hoo!

Turns out that was the only winners he and I had. :(

Erin, however, bet only one race - she played a 10 cent Superfecta, boxed it and won $36.00! :D

It was all good, I got to hang with friends I don't get to see all that often, plus I got to meet her mom and dad again.

They did not initially remember me. In 1989, I was a renter in their apartment up on Irving Avenue in throwing distance of Kramer's and next to Domino's. It was this same apartment where we hosted Erin's infamous 21st birthday party

I had this roommate - Ivan. I have to call him Ivan because he gets mad when I use his given name of Chris Wettle. I just hoped Mr. and Mrs. Duffy didn't remember that I was one of the boys there because Ivan had this cat named Fred who tore the hell up out of the carpet one night.

When I introduced myself, Mr. Duffy asked if he knew me.

"I went to school with Erin at Dayton," I told him.

"Dad, he rented your apartment. He lived with Ivan. Remember Ivan? He was the one who had that cat."

It went from partly sunny to a shit storm really quickly because Erin knew what button to push to fire him up.

"I tell you what, you buy the nicest carpet you can for the tenant and then somebody brings a cat into the apartment!"

"It was Ivan's cat," I quickly blurted out. Yes, all those years ago I agreed to put up with a cat (even though it was a big mistake because my allergies had gotten really bad all those years ago) and here I was, finding myself 22 years later, throwing my friend under the bus.

"Well, why didn't you kick his ass? Couldn't you have done that?"

"There was never a question of that," I assured him with a smile.

He then started telling me the story of some other tenants from a few years later that broke a window at one of his apartments and I was glad when the story changed, shifting the story away from me.

The day went on without a hitch otherwise and it was just a terrific day to be outside.

I came home and later called Ivan to tell him I threw him under the bus.

"Hey! It's Bryon. What are you doing?"

"Watching propaganda with my daughter." Yes, he really said this. You have to know him to appreciate his dry sense of humor. His daughter had to write a paper on "Supersize Me" for Health.

"I threw you under the bus today."

"Oh?"

I told him the story of meeting up with the Duffy's at Keeneland he he laughed. He assured me it was OK and told me Mr. Duffy had a lot more reasons than just the cat to dislike him.

The next morning I got a text from Erin thanking me for coming out to Keeneland.

I responded, thanking her for the invite and for her letting the cat out of the bag, so to speak.

My phone rang 20 seconds later and Erin was laughing.

"Bryon, you don't understand! The story about the cat is my dad's favorite story! He has told that story 300 times over the last 20 years! He loves telling that story! Oh my God, I am as guilty as you two because I knew there was a cat and I never told him!"

She totally egged him on and purposely fired him up!

So, not only did I have a great day seeing friends, but I learned I am part of someone's favorite story to be gruff about. :)