60 Epic Hours: Part II

Hey, y'all -

On the first full day of Karen's 40th birthday getaway, I got up early, put on my ski bibs and woke Karen up with a whispered reminder of her promise to go downhill skiing. I know we are good friends because while she opened her eyes and looked at me like I was being dumber than a box of hair, she did not actually use any profanity.

We drove to Lookout Pass on the Montana/Idaho border, about an hour and a half away. I would say that between the long, windy mountain road and the ghost of St. Patrick, we were not feeling 100%.

Still - bless her heart - Karen put on skis and a helmet and hit the bunny hill for her first-ever day of downhill skiing. 

Keep in mind: she still hasn't been in Montana for a full 24 hours. 

We hustled back to Missoula, picked up the kids, changed clothes, and walked downtown to see Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen in concert.

It was a great show. Those two have been friends since they met as students at Texas A&M in 1976 (the year Karen and I were born). They told some great stories. Robert Earl Keen sang "Merry Christmas From The Family," his infamous ode to redneck holidays. The chorus goes:

Carve the turkey, turn the ballgame on,

Mix margaritas when the eggnog's gone.

Send somebody to the QuikPak store;

We need some ice and an extension cord,

A can of bean dip and some Diet Rite,

a box of tampons, some Marlboro Lights.

Hallelujah, everybody say "Cheese!"

Merry Christmas from the fam-i-ly.

He said that the song wasn't half as embarrassingly redneck as his actual family, because he remembered one Christmas in particular when his sister brought her friend with a prosthetic leg, and somebody accidentally set the Christmas tree on fire, and the friend took her leg off to try to beat back the flames, and then they had to put the leg out, because it was also ablaze by the end...   Lyle asked him who had covered that song, and Robert Earl said something like, "Those jokers in Montgomery Gentry came in with their stupid duster jackets and 30 gallon hats and recorded the song, but they were worried about offending somebody, so they changed 'tampons' to 'Pampers.' The record company asked me what I thought about it, and I said, 'Hell, I think they need to put on their big-girl Pampers and just say tampons.'" Big applause for that one. I love Missoula so much sometimes.

OK, that 'bout sums up Karen's first 24 hours.

Love,
Mom

P.S. Sometimes when I'm on the ski lift and it's a perfect sunny day, or I'm at the top of the ski hill about to cruise down and the distant mountains are just so beautiful, I find myself thinking "I bet Granny Jack would like this. I wish she could see it or feel what it's like to go scooting through these trees..." But then I remember that your mid-80s isn't a likely time to take up downhill skiing. So I borrowed Hagen's camera chest mount, and I wore the GoPro for one run down the mountain, just so I could show her. This one's for you, Granny Jack: