Late Saturday afternoon (16 March), I drove to Julie and Joan's apartment for dinner. They served up corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots for St. Patrick's Day the next day. It was a delicious meal to enjoy with my girlfriend and her apartment mate.
After dinner, we got into Julie's car and drove to the 560 Music Center in University City for Band Together's 27th Anniversary concert. The three of us were part of a good-sized crowd that took in the concert, which featured such selections as the Theme from The Muppet Show and Rainbow Connection from The Muppet Movie, Rhapsody in Blue, and the theme from Lawrence of Arabia. These musicians put their heart into the music and the audience greatly appreciated their efforts. Certainly, Julie, Joan and I had a good time at that show.
After returning to their apartment, I got into my car to get home and some sleep. I was up early the next morning (17 March), getting a little breakfast and packing up my things before driving back to Julie and Joan's apartment. There, we got back into Julie's car to drive to the Dogtown area of St. Louis. We were going to watch the annual St. Patrick's Day parade through that historically Irish neighborhood, which was organized by the Ancient Order of Hibernians.
After parking in garage south of the Saint Louis Zoo, we walked into Dogtown to find a place along the parade route. We found a spot along Tamm Avenue just south of Wade to watch the parade with some friends of Julie and Joan.
Around 11:00 AM, the first units marched past us. These included several politicians, the Budweiser Clydesdales, and mascots Louie from the St. Louis Blues and Fredbird from the St. Louis Cardinals. There was rather large crowd who came to watch this parade, and they were most happy seeing these units go past them.
Compared to the larger Downtown St. Louis parade, which is held on the Saturday before St. Patrick's Day, the Dogtown parade is held on St. Patrick's Day and is more geared towards traditional Irish clans. What this parade lacks in size it makes up in neighborhood spirit and ethnic pride.
After the parade ended about 12:30 PM, we started off to the get back to the car. Julie had left earlier to freshen up, so I accompanied Joan to walk up towards the car. On the sidewalk in front of St. James the Greater Catholic School, Joan tripped up and fell, hitting her face on the grass-covered ground. Some bystanders and I helped her to relax and police and paramedics soon arrived on the scene. After the paramedics stabilized her, Joan was helped up to her feet.
I called Julie and she arrived on the scene to find out what happened. She then headed to the parking garage to get her car and drive to a side street, where Joan and I went to await Julie. It was around 1:10 PM when Julie came and I helped Joan into the car before I got in and we then headed to their apartment.
On arrival there, I made sure Joan was in the apartment before taking leave of them to drive to World Wide Technology Soccer Park in Fenton, where I was to referee St. Louis Youth Soccer Association matches. I arrived at the Soccer Park in plenty of time to finish getting into my uniform and getting water and a snack from the concession stand before getting to the field.
That day, I ran lines on two under-14 girls matches, with a middle on an under-14 boys match in between. The games went well, with no real issues on the pitch. My partners--a father and son--brought along communications gear normally associated with professional matches. I had only used it once, when I ran line on an under-12 tournament game nearly a year ago. It took a bit of getting used to, but using these communications devices sure helped our crew to effectively manage these matches. The real issue for everyone to deal with was the wind, which made for a cold late afternoon and early evening out there.
While tired in my legs from all the standing and running, I was happy to get the job done and came home to prepare for bed. I checked with Julie and she told me Joan is fine. I was so glad to hear that as the day ended.
Later.
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