Sometime last week, I got an email from Super Son requesting that I buy some beer. It's the time of year (logically enough) that any number of Oktoberfests become available, and he was concerned that he'd miss the opportunity to partake of Narragansett's seasonal brew.
"It's an orange can," he told me. "It's called 'Fest.' If you could pick up a couple of six-packs, that'd be great."
A subsequent message said, "If you want to try one, feel free."
Gee, thanks.
The reason behind the beer-buying dictum was that Super Son and Super Girlfriend were coming home for the weekend to attend a friend's wedding — yikes. Darling Daughter was home, too, as it turns out, for her fall break. The Lucky U brew that Mr. Betty had added of his own accord to the selection in the fridge portrayed the general feeling of the occasion (our very own Oktoberfest?), during which we enjoyed the kids, one last blast of fine weather, a few oysters expertly-shucked at the Seafood Festival (where the scene included assorted participants of the Newport Marathon standing around enjoying a post-race toast) and a host of additional sights & sounds involving shellfish & good times.
It also reminded me of a few other bottoms-up occasions we enjoyed over the summer, quickly fading from present to past ...
Then the last activity of the weekend — after everyone had re-departed in their own directions (sigh) — was a bike ride, during which I encountered another message of sorts. It was written in chalk on the farthest reaches of Ocean Drive. After I'd rolled across it, far too quickly to read let alone appreciate it, I snapped to attention from whatever lost-in-thought state I'd strayed, and asked myself, "Wait, what did that say?"
I pulled a U-ey and went back for a closer look. The message, over which I assume each & every one of those marathon runners had trod earlier in the day, stated the obvious: "Nice view, huh?!"
Indeed.
Which reminded me, in turn, of something I learned from Darling Daughter, who lists as her favorite quote on Facebook something from Baudelaire: "Il faut vivre ivre."
The first time I read it, I gasped. DD was in high school at the time, and the words (translated from French) say, "One must live drunk."
She was being figurative, I think ...
OK, it's a little embarrassing to be citing quotes found on Facebook (twice in a row). But it's DD and her friend. And it's Baudelaire and Camus ...
