Feb 12, 2005, the last day of school before vacation, a pretty intense day as students try to eeek out the most they can under the pending anticipation of travel to lavish destinations.
I am no different, knowing that I am returning home to gather up my belongings and Chris's, the skate bag, the jig, visit the bank, pack some food, print the directions,etc., etc. etc...
I was sitting at lunch when Richard called me to tell me he was still quite ill with flu-like symptoms, but would welcome our visit. I am a bit worried, and I certainly did not want to impose our stay on a sick friend, but Richard insisted we come, so I decided to go ahead with our plans, altering them slightly. We would leave in the morning, rather than directly after school. Check -in was at noon and it was about 45 minutes north of DC making the trip a doable one as far as early morning travel, besides I wasn't skating and Chris could sleep in the car. I left school, lazed my way home, and began to pack. The plan was to drop Mikey off at school for a boarding trip at 6:15 and then leave from there. We actually managed to get to bed early, all of us!
We were out of the house with 5 minutes to spare, dropping Mikey off and having him dodge the all embarassing kiss and safety lecture (ok- I am still that PIA mom sometimes). We head out, traffic non-existent and DVD's on hand. Chris settled into a movie, and me, well, Clapton, Stevie Ray-Vaughan, and Elvis Costello, WMMR as well as some other radio waves. Overall, it was a smooth ride- and we arrived in Laurel at 10:45 - which was so early. Amazingly, we caught David Kennedy as he was coming into the rink and he allowed us to check in early. We called Richard, headed to drop off our stuff and have some lunch at this great Diner on 18th Street NW (on the corner of Q street I believe- the name escapes me). With Chris fueled up on Burgers and a Chocholate shake (hey, that's what he ate the last time he raced and did well) we dropped Richard off and headed back to Laurel for some serious racing.
There was a decent MASA contingent. Abbey, Robert, Ganghyun, Al, Claude, and Fred all making the trip. Fred Prilop officiated, Bill took on the bucket patrol, and Rebecca was judging. The meet was off to a great start for all of the contingent. Most noteable was the battle going on between Claude and Jae-Min, and Chris and Aristina. In both cases, the competition was intense and the air was tense.
Chris started his day by winning his heat by half a lap, then the final. He got warned about pushing (what? was this MY son skating? he is never aggressive). The next event, he found his line, pushed past his competition (literally) and accomplished two things: a major fall and a STERN warning about his use of hands. He got off the ice really angry and ready to give up. An oversight made by the clerk upset him (he was not advanced to a final, even though it was a points meet) I got him written into the B final and he managed to pull that race off flawlessly, despite his mood. Next was his favorite distance...the 500, there was no stopping him, another seemingly flawless skate, though one of the skaters slowed him down enough to keep him from achieving the goals (remember the pushing thing)...he wanted to achieve time wise.
Claude was having a pretty fearless day as well. He has this way of sitting on his competitors and letting them think he is not a bother and then turning on the rockets with three laps to go. This meet was no different. The first day was put to rest with ALL of the NY contingent in the lead respectively.
We went back, went to sleep (no dinner really, just a sandwhich on the road) and we were out of the house by 6:30 AM, Friendly's at 7:00, and off to the rink- relay practice, warm -ups and a nerve-wracking day of racing (I think I had more adrenaline that Chris did).  The day was flawless. The meet was nearly over, just Fred's 3000 to go. Wait a minute Why is Claude skating the 3000, and where is Fred? Fifteen laps into the race Claude fell  as he was trying to lap the pack. He had a half a lap on them, everyone thought it was over. Wait a minute, he get up, skates to catch the pack, and sits on them (remember what I said about his strategy?) He takes off with six laps to go, catching the leader and passing him. He holds the lead, effectively winning the Master Men's 3000 by half a lap.
The MASA contingent cleaned up, all of them bringing home the hardware! Chris was beaming - 1st in Pony and 2nd in the relay. THIS MEET IS A MUST NEXT YEAR!!!
The meet ended with a long conversation about ceramics with Alec Karros and a trip out for a Korean lunch! WOW - what A great lunch with WONDERFUL PEOPLE -it was so much fun!
Chris and I ventured back to Richard's, and then downtown to see what he wanted to see (you know he has learned so much history this year that I actually didn't mind standing in line for 45min to see the Bill of Rights- his conversation was wonderful) We walked through the sculpture garden and by the ice rink on the MALL then, we were off to the Lincoln memorial and after crossing into Va three times and visiting the Watergate complex twice, figured getting to the Jefferson memorial was a bit fruitless, so we headed back to Richards for the evening. (the Pizza guy never showed so we went out to eat- too long of a story that ended with Chris nearly doing the nod into the pepperoni)
The morning was rainy but we decided to hit one last museum before leaving town. We went to the Air and Space museum (cool place) and we spent two hours looking at things Chris wanted to see for his upcoming project on flight. He took in a simulator ride (oh yeah, lets just say he does not want to be a fighter pilot anymore !!!- headache and nauseous all day long). The trip home took 7 hours due to the rain. We arrived in time to go out the door to the rink. (WHAT A GREAT WEEKEND)

CONGRATS TO ALL OF YOU!!!