SoBe Journey

We very rarely go to South Beach, probably because, as Yoggi Berra once noted, it's too crowded and nobody goes there anymore. But yesterday was a happy exception.

Saturday, Mike picked me up and we went to watch some Canes roundball. We sat in a breezeway outside of the 100 Club, and ate the pregame chicken lunch. We were joined by Norman and his Dad, the amazing Max, who is doing great at 91. Max is such an outlier among the older folks I know -- he's still able to walk from the car to the arena, and is sharp as ever. We talked about our shared beloved Canes, and the fact that my favorite pharmacist, his granddaughter, is still missed by us all.

The Canes won, and I caught up with Mike's boy Chris, and his lady Rachel. Chris had driven Mike's new sports car to the game, and we switched vehicles so I could be squired home in the new Jaguar two seater. It's a gorgeous car -- top speed of 185 mph, and Mike will enjoy it without, probably, reaching its top speed.

Yesterday I thought about driving to my office and then Ubering to the Loew's Hotel, but opted to drive instead. It was fine -- we passed my grandma's old hotel, the Edward, and dodged the South Beach drivers, all of whom seem to bring every bad driving habit from around the world with them when they vacation here.

The event was the Trisha Yearwood barbecue brunch. We were invited by FIU's Public Health School, where we established a family scholarship program. Years ago, D1 was deciding where to get her MS in Dietetics. She was going to go to an expensive private program, which would have cost me big. Instead, she chose FIU, and I figured I ought to give something back, so we donated money for another student to get her MS -- presumably for someone financially struggling.

Well, the School instead decided to use the money to help MS students when they do their internships -- they have to work at them, full time and without pay, and this is a major hardship for the kids working their way through the program.  We donated more, and the FIU investment folks did well growing the money, and now each year two students get healthy stipends to get them through.

D1 sits on the committee awarding the funds, which happens each May. And now we get invited to cool stuff like the South Beach festival.

We sat with the Dean, Tomas Guilarte, who I admire greatly. He's a local Cuban guy -- Gables High, and then BS and MS at UF. He got a PhD from Hopkins, and enjoyed a stellar career there and at Columbia.

He told me he came home to finish his career since he figured he'd do more good teaching the kids of working immigrants, like he was, instead of the kids of hedge fund managers, which he was doing at Hopkins and Columbia. I really dig him.

The food was, of course, terrific -- Wifey and I sampled all of it, and Trisha Yearwood sang three songs.  I'm not a country fan, but I became one of hers. Her voice was wonderful, and she is, well, not of the body type usually associated with South Beach. Clearly, she enjoys her own cooking quite a bit.

It was a truly diverse event -- typically Miami Latin crowd, with many tables filled with the very Southern barbecue types -- the table next to me had the folks who owned a bourbon company, and they looked like they were from "Duck Dynasty." They seemed to really enjoy the music, and the bourbon.

After we said our goodbyes, we walked to the beach behind the hotel. It was gorgeous. We stood by the water, and I said my greetings to my Dad and Mom. Dad wanted that -- he preferred the idea of having us remember him at a beautiful beach instead of a sad cemetery, and I fulfilled his wishes.

The line to fetch our car only took 20 minutes, and with tip, it cost $40 to park. I knew it would. But I justified it by remembering we were guests at an event that cost $175 per person -- I handled the parking well.

Plus, there was humor. One guest had a top of the line Maserati, and no cash to pay for parking, and a credit card that kept getting declines. They had him pull to the side and await further inspection. He had a gorgeous, much younger woman in the car with him. He didn't look happy. It gave me a chuckle.

So it was a lovely weekend, even though the weather is unseasonably hot. Last night Wifey and I walked the dogs around the 'hood, and I sweated like it was Miami summer.

D2 Facetimed us during the Oscars, and she said she hoped it would stay that way for her visit -- in 2 1/2 weeks. She's already tired of NYC's cold, dreary Winter.  So one man's meat...

D2 is thinking about having her wedding at a South Beach property. That'd be fine -- we have a family history there -- many vacations in the 70s, and where I asked Wifey to marry me.

Plus, the high parking costs and traffic will give guests plenty to gripe about...