A Year of Blogging: May 7, 2011

It's the first Saturday in May. That can only mean one thing: The Kentucky Derby. The Kentucky Derby is a horse race that is run the first Saturday in May. It is billed as the 'fastest two minutes in sports'. Watching it is a tradition in our family. We aren't really big horse people. I grew up an hour south of Saratoga Springs, NY, which is another horse city. The horses run at Saratoga in the summer, and we usually went at least once a year to watch them. The animal lover in me is opposed to horse racing. But the horse lover in me is drawn to those big brown eyes, that long nose. I have always loved horses. I wanted one as a kid. Sydney wants one too, and she told me my mom is going to get it for her. I told her not to hold her breath. Watching the Kentucky Derby is something our family has always done. Sometimes, we bet on the horses too. We each picked our horse the morning of the Derby, and Dad went to OTB to place our bets. Mom picked by color- if there was a gray horse, she bet on it. My sister looked at color too, picking the prettiest. Sometimes she picked by name. I picked my lucky number: 6. Dad was the only one who really handicapped it, picking a mudder if it was a rainy day or a sloppy track, or one that was fast if it was a dry track. He studied and studied. And more often than not, one of the three girls had the winning horse. We gathered in front of the TV in the late afternoon, watching this magical place called Kentucky where women wore big hats and everyone knew the words to some old song we'd never heard of. Then we watched the parade of horses, and waited as they put the horses in the gate. And then...they're off! If there are too many horses, I can never tell which one is which. Before you know it, one horse is wearing the blanket of roses in the winner's circle. I went to college about an hour from Louisville. One year when Mom & Dad brought me out, we took a mini vacation into Louisville. We went to the Louisville Slugger factory, and to Churchill Downs. My sister was thrilled to visit Churchill Downs. We still watch the Derby. All of us. I had it on tonight, and my sister called to talk. I ended up watching the Derby while on the phone with Sydney. That was kind of neat. When I talked to my parents later, they had watched it too. It was fun watching it with Sydney, introducing the next generation to this tradition. She kept asking me if I saw this horse or that one. It felt like we were closer together. When it was over, she said the one that won was her horse. Of course it was!