A Fine Saturday in the 305

So after watching the Canes dispatch North Carolina, I returned home and fetched Wifey. We drove to the Grove for a fundraising happy hour for UM's New Crohn's and Colitis Center, directed by our friend Dr. Maria Abreu. D1 is interning there, which is why we scored the invite. Dr. Maria is amazing. She's a local Cuban girl who finished college and med school in 6 years -- top of her class. She then went to Boston where her medicine chief resident boss was none other than Dr. Eric. The 2 UM med grads showed the Ivy Leaguers a thing or two -- Eric went on to become a cardiologist, and Maria went to LA to get trained in GI. She married a fellow from Dublin who is a liver specialist, and a few years ago returned to Miami with him. Her husband took over as head of liver diseases, and Maria became the young GI leader. She's way cool. She decided to have an "anti banguet" at Moe's in the Grove. There was an open bar and wings and pasta. The centerpieces at the tables were rolls of toilet paper -- an acknoledgment to the runs that Crohn's typically causes. D1 and her boyfriend Joel and I had a few, and listened to the DJ. The theme was "Rolling Stones and Crohns." As I said -- Maria is pretty cool... The event raised nearly $100K for the new Center. D1 is hoping to be offered a job there as a dietician when she completes her program -- and it looks like that will happen. We met several of the young GI attending docs, and they all love D1 and her upbeat, happy attitude... Moe's, or at least half of it, used to be the Village Inn, back when I was a college student. The VI had great local music -- jazz and singer songwriter types, and it brought me warm memories of the late 70s and early 80s to be there. I reminded Dr. Maria of the former incarnation. She said she was a good Catholic high school girl, and devoted college student, so she never went to bars or clubs. Then she winked... On the way home, as Wifey drove (thanks to my 3 gin and tonics -- my latest drink in a nod to an aging stomach that has trouble with pure vodka), we drove down Old Cutler Road towards our 'hood. I fell in love with this place 33 years ago, and the love is still enduring. I don't ever want to live anywhere else...