Racing...

We are fortunate to have Keeneland in Lexington. We are also fortunate to have Toyota. They sponsor the Bluegrass Stakes in April of each year at Keeneland. Since Claude is Mayor we are invited. Last Saturday was the day.

However, our Stake Relief Society planned a wonderful 'Time Out for Sisters' that morning. Claude loaded some Indexing files on his computer and took me to this event first. He found a room at the church and worked on his Indexing while I attended my meeting. It was a perfectly wonderful cup-filling kind of morning. There were three speakers. The first was from Indianapolis and spoke about depression. She is a therapist. The second assists birth mothers who might be giving their babies up for adoption. She was from Evansville, Indiana. She spoke about teaching your children about sex and a bit about adoption. The last was a wonderful young mother who spoke about healing from addictions. These ladies were amazing speakers. Then our stake president spoke and tied all their talks together. A beautiful soloist ended the program with a slide show in the background as she sang. Great beginning to a day.

I hurried out at the completion of my meeting and Claude drove us to Keeneland on the opposite side of Lexington as fast as he could. We had preferred parking in a lot close to the stadium but we had to be there before 1:30. I think we got in our spot about 1:25pm. Yike!! Then we hurried upstairs to the Lexington room for our lunch and to watch the races for the afternoon.

This was such a pleasant afternoon. Just love watching those horses run. We also get to meet new people. Vinnie was at our table. He is in charge of quality control for production at the Toyota plant in Georgetown. And the other person was the manage of the Kentucky Horse Park.

As we sat at our table by this huge wall that is all window, Claude and I reflected on Papa's stating he wanted to go to Keeneland sometime. They only run races for a few weeks in the spring and again in the fall. We pulled out our Blackberries and coordinated a time on Thursday that we could take him. I talked with Papa Sunday and he was all eager to go.

Today we took Papa to Keeneland. Claude had a meeting in Georgetown. He dropped me off at the nursing home to visit with Mimi and Papa while Papa fed her. Then Papa took me back to his apartment and we waited for Claude. Claude got us about 2:30pm and we were off to the races.

Papa's previous experience with this was with a man he knew in Louisiana who had horses that raced at Louisiana Downs. Papa and Mimi had gone with this man to see his horses and watch some races. Papa was blown away by the size of Keeneland and the number of people in attendance.

Claude got us seats in the reserved seat area which is under the cover. This kept us in the shade. We had to hike a good distance to get into the stadium. Papa was grateful for the seat and loved being in the shade. Once we were all settled, we left Papa with my purse and Claude and headed to get lunch for us. Barbeque sandwiches were sooooo good. We watched the last four races of the day. One was even on turf. Papa totally enjoyed himself. It was great to get him out and about and check something off his bucket list.

I must say, when we dropped him off at his apartment, I said, "Papa, enjoy your nap."  He said he was going to do just that. I bet he is still asleep!!