Glad You're Going My Way...

Ok so...when I left off last time Suse, Helen, Mary and I were at Downtown Galway Hooker and we had "staked out our seats by the window"...which isn't 100% how it went down... Oh, we were at Galway Hooker...but the seating situation was far more time consuming and strife-producing than anyone might have imagined. The bar was empty...not one stool was occupied...the staff was plentiful and welcoming...and there were four of us onsite. So...initially we sat at one of those bar tables with the high chairs on the side of the bar...and our peaches and cream-skinned waitress with the bouncy auburn ponytail and the pinched brow, whom I think may have actually been too young to serve us alcohol, was initially pleasant but then all confused when we told her we planned to eat and drink and we expected more people to join us...

Then, when she was off filling our drink order, we decided to move to the window-front tables in a teeny alcove...more light, more tables, more space...we told her we were moving and she seemed ok with that, but then turned on her heels and ran off to her 22 year old manager with the kind of meth-faced pallor...and we saw her whining and pointing at us and shrugging as he attempted to calm her nerves...and we are still unclear as to her maladjustment, but honestly I think she was just scared of having to direct us...afraid of a bunch of moms all dressed in pink exercise clothes (well, I am sometimes mean and scary, but my friends aren't...).... I can't even remember what Meth-Face said when he came

over to us with Peaches&Cream sulkily trailing him...he just wanted to make sure we were comfortable, he claimed...and to make sure we understood it was table service at the tables (really...at the tables there is table service??...as if we are a bunch of co-eds!!)...but after we debated another move to the upstairs section, they both went away and we settled in. Let me remind you, we were the only four people in the joint...

It was about then that my smoky violet Blackberry Curve began buzzing...It's ADP! I exclaimed...and I read aloud to the girls: "Where are u guys right now? We're in The Village." I texted back our whereabouts...and seconds later, a giant black Denali XL pulled up right in front of the big windows...and in the driver's seat we saw Colleen, swathed in pink...and we knew she had Sam with her too...and of course we began to squeal and they snagged that spot right in front...and then right behind her pulled in The DPs -- CDP, ADP and their three young DP girls...and every one of them was in pink....well, not CDP. And we all jumped and hugged one another and snapped pictures and grabbed drinks. The DPs carried Jughead Team signs that ADP secured right to the front window of the bar (just wait til Meth-Face sees that!). We caught the group up on our Walk weekend thus far...how we were making great time and how good we felt and how much fun we were having. Soon Suse began to receive texts from Kathy, who was with Wendy, Teri, Kerri, PJ and Chris...and they were almost at Mile 14...almost there to join us. The excitement was building...

This was about the time that Peaches&Cream began lurking over my shoulder (somehow

I always end up being the cocktail waitress/bartender's point person...)...her brow was pinched permanently now, and she reminded us that we had table-service (just as Sam ordered a gimlet from the bartender...haha! loved it!...)...and then she took a food order that we randomly spewed at her...there were burgers and veggie burgers and mac & cheese and a hummus plate and soup and some pink drink for Colleen (going with the theme, the girl goes b*lls to the wall in all things...) and god knows what else...then, I gave Peaches&Cream my seafood allergic/anaphylaxis speech and that just about put her over the edge. This was the one time I loved giving that speech....though it may have been worth it to take an Epipen in the upper thigh just to see the little ball of nerves lose her sh*t...

Soon the DPs had to split, so amid hugs and kisses, they hopped in the gold minivan and off they went... And for a moment, it was quiet at the Downtown Galway Hooker as we sipped and snacked and chit-chatted... But in no time at all, we were on our feet again cheering and hugging one another as our team leader and inspiration, Kathy, along with the friends from whom we were separated back on Amsterdam and the Magnolia cupcake detour, came through the door...all in pink, carrying bags from Billy's Bakery in Chelsea....(maybe this was the Cupcake Tour of NYC after all...)... And then right behind them, Nancy and Gwen arrived, fresh from the PATH train, a giant poster board in hand exclaiming: Jughead Pit Crew...only the "P" in "pit" was crossed out and replaced with a "T"...haha!! extra creative friends I have... Soon Pina and Linda and Melissa arrived after a "browsing" detour up 7th Avenue, where they saw a display case filled with unidentifiable stainless steel objects!...huh??... And with their entrance more celebrations were had (no stainless objects involved though...sorry boys!)... We laughed and hugged and settled up with Peaches&Cream and turned our attentions to the puffy-faced bartender, who snapped a picture of us as we toasted.

Soon the bar began to fill up around us...young 20-somethings and NYU students showing up for the afternoon games...USC seemed the popular choice...and we held our spot at the bar alonngside. For a few moments I listened to the music flow through the bar...classics from the Stones, U2, Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, and my boyfriend John Mellencamp...and PJ was hanging by the corner of the bar and told me she thought this was just perfect...that this Downtown Galway Hooker was just the right place for us to meet and enjoy one another and remember where we were last year at this time. I thought back to our walk down Bleecker Street last year, when PJ's sister, Margaret, and her wife, Jill, convinced the pizza guy to hang a Jughead sign in his front window...how special they were to our experience last year.

And only seconds after I asked if Margaret and Jill were coming this year and PJ answered a disappointed "no"...... THEY WALKED IN THE DOOR!!...surprising us all..."Jugheads" written in lipstick across their foreheads. There were cheers again...and tears...our Jughead big sisters had arrived to support us yet again. It turns out they had staked out a spot near the Brooklyn Bridge and had convinced some street performers to perform a Jughead song and dance number...and while we laughed, we were sad to have missed it...but at least they had found us. Soon Jill and Margaret circled the crowd passing out shot glasses with (please no vodka!) some pink drink inside...pink! And Margaret toasted Kathy and the women who made up our team, past and present...our friends. And she said that we were blessed by our strength and unity and friendship. And as Margaret closed her toast and we gathered for a group shot, "Waiting on a Friend" by the Stones came over the speakers...truly poetic.

And amidst all the excitement, I stood back for a second and watched our friends all coming together in celebration right there at the Downtown Galway Hooker...there was Kath, the reason we united as a team in the first place...and she was right there again this year...and Jugheads past and present were supporting one another here...and there...near and far and in any way we could. Many of our teammates from last year were unable to do the Walk again this year, but were cheering us on...and we had a whole group of friends new to the team this year that we were rooting for -- Jen and Ann and LDL and Tina and Laura and Kathleen and Samara -- and they were trudging through the route, passing Galway Hooker by so that they could make it all the way, just like we did...

And the rest of us were here still...time ticking by...and none of us wanted to give up the moment...because it was such a different experience for Team Jughead this year compared to last....this year full of changes and growth for all of us.

Most importantly, over this past year we watched Kathy grow stronger every day...and this year -- today, right now -- she is a survivor.

A survivor!

That is all we could have asked for last year when we were on the Manhattan Bridge, getting killer blisters and broken knees and dehydration and hallucinations and running those last two miles up the East Side...all we could ever have asked for was what we had here -- we were together again...and Kathy was with us.

And that was what the Walk was about for us this year, I think, even more so than the accomplishment...it was the cause, the bonding, the togetherness and the survival of our friends...it was about our sisterhood.

So we stayed there together...

Well...until we all piled into Colleen's Denali to race uptown....together. We had 13 more miles to walk....

Photos:

1. Mary, Suse, Me and Helen...on the road to begin our Galway Hooking...

2. Marking our territory with the DP girls' artwork, illegally displayed on Galway Hooker's front window...

3. Greeting our fans from across the bridge, (left to right) ADP, Mary, Suse, GDP, Helen, Me, Colleen and Sam...

4. Kath, me and Sam...totally buyng gimlets from the bartender and drinking them at the table...

5. Mary, Suse, Me and Pina...getting the lowdown on Pina's enlightening shopping spree...

6. Mary, Melissa and Helen already cracking into the coffee an hour in...'twas Irish coffee though, make no mistake...

7. Jugheads aplenty...and our "Pit/T*t Crew"...so happy to be bar-side...

8. A few rounds in...convening over classic rock (left to right) Wendy, Me, Chris, Teri, Suse, Colleen and Nance...I think this was about the time Suse told me to stop straddling Wendy for the shot...

9. Jughead sisters and real sisters, (left to right) Kerri, Jill, PJ, Margaret and Kath...

10. Pink shots of unknown ingredients and a toast from Margaret...my hand with the Pepto-Bismal nail color and pink shot visible out front...

11. Team Jughead...Sisters to the core...well on the way to being "overserved"...