We'll start my Epic Weekend In Pictures with Thursday. For the past month, Awesome Girlfriend Megan and I have been planning to visit my parents back home up in Boston. We wanted to show youngest future stepdaughter Amanda Boston University, plus see my parents and sister for my first time in two months. Thursday afternoon I was in my office getting some work done with Governor Phil Murphy's press conference in the background. I always try to have these press conference updates on in the background in case there's a some sort of bombshell breaking news announcement of some sort. In a casual back and forth questions from a reporter asking about New Jersey's recent upticks and how in some statistics we rival some of the states who we have banned from travelling to us. Governor Murphy responded saying it's not a good time for anyone to travel anywhere right now, and he then mentioned if we just worry about keeping our numbers down we are fine. Murphy then followed it up with saying he's sad being unable to visit his friends and family in Massachusetts, because we are on the state's travel ban list.
WAIT, WHAT DID HE JUST SAY????!!!! I immediately googled it and he confirmed my fears. New Jersey residents are not welcome into my home state of Massachusetts. I immediately texted and called Awesome Girlfriend Megan to tell her the sad news. I then called my Dad to let him know we now wouldn't be making the trip up to see them.
Several of my friends have asked me about our decision to cancel our weekend trip. Were there state troopers at state borders pulling people over? Probably not. It still was a chance we couldn't take. With my New Jersey license plates, license, phone, EZ Pass, and my Weekend In Pictures, I'm quite trackable. It unfortunately just wouldn't be a good look for me to visit my family in Boston, the same day on the front page of NJ.com has the headline "Massachusetts has added New Jersey residents to their travel ban."
It hurt. I miss my family tremendously. I went from mid March to late June without going back home and seeing them. My parents and sister have been my best friends my entire life. Over the past nearly 7 years, I've gone back to see them typically every four weeks or so. Even with that it's a guaranteed teary goodbye, usually with me breaking down first.
This has been such a tough year for so many. My heart goes out to everyone else who can't see their loved ones again during these times. When I had my Saturday morning call with Madre she was shocked that I didn't have much of a game plan like I normally do during most Epic Weekends. I reminded her everything changed because we were supposed to be up in Boston, so everything in Jersey was a clean slate empty canvas.
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Friday night I had fun at Tiki Bar at Minerals dodging the heavy rain and enjoying the gorgeous sunset. I was so blessed to have so many of my close friends around me outside to help cheer me up. They knew I was hurting. It was fun getting out and seeing friends outside while covered dodging the 2-3 inches of rain. I said on the air Friday afternoon during the rain storms, "I'm going out seeing friends for a drink at a Tiki Bar, what can possibly go wrong?
Saturday morning I was a couch potato. I was just sad moping around my one bedroom apartment missing everyone. I tried watching NFL Network for some escapism. Awesome Girlfriend Megan was able to meet me for lunch at The Cottage in Franklin at 3 Saturday afternoon, so that helped break the day up for me. She brought the girls along too, so we had fun with that. I was very happy to be able to treat them for lunch at their favorite place.
Saturday after Meg and the girls left I was able to venture over and see more of my friends. We are loving outdoor dining with strong heaters! I had so much fun meeting my friend Patrick, who I've been friends with on social media for years but was finally able to meet in person. He had just run TEN miles! He's an inspiration to me, that's for sure. My friend Mayor Paul called me over, and told me he heard me on the radio. Mayor Paul heard me asking women to get mammograms. He confided to me his wife who just passed away had to wait on checkups these past many months because of Covid. He can't help but wonder if she could've been checked sooner maybe things would be different. He wants me to remind everyone, with this stuff, there's "no advantage to waiting." You can schedule your mammogram online right now, by texting "Ask Her," to 555-888.
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Saturday night more fun with friends at Tiki. It was even planned, we just randomly ran into each other and I called it a Happy Accident. I then enjoyed watching college football. I'm not a huge college football fan, but when it's #2 Alabama vs. #3 Georgia, I'm all in and excited to watch this! Fun game to watch for sure.
Sunday was slightly less than epic since I was watching my Patriots lose. Yes we were very rusty, only practicing once in the past two weeks due to their positive Covid cases. The challenge seems to be the same problem Tom Brady had last year, while our running game is strong, our receivers just aren't getting open for Cam Newton. UGH.
Then of course to add to my misery, Brady plays against Aaron Rodgers immediately after we lose, and you can see Brady having so much fun getting to throw to open wide receivers. UGH.
At least it looks like my fantasy football team, The Radioboyz, has a chance at victory this week.
Overall we had a wonderful weekend with friends, even though it wasn't anything or anywhere near what we had planned for the past month. I'll stay strong and patient knowing I'll see my family someday soon again. My birthday is the day before Thanksgiving this year, and Thanksgiving is always my favorite day of the year. Crossing my fingers I get to see them, even if our setup has to be different from past years.
I hope you had a great weekend too. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my Epic Weekend In Pictures. Next weekend I get Awesome Girlfriend Megan back, so I'm already looking forward to it. That is for sure!
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