Lauren and I took a brief hiatus from the demands of our amateur dog-fighting ring to welcome the Nitti parents to Aspen, Colorado. It was the first visit for Mary and Angelo, confirming my long-held hypothesis that if you want people over 60 to trust their lives to air travel, you'd better a) have grandkids to dangle as bait, or b) have recently undergone some form of major surgery, the recovery from which can be utilized as a guilting tool.
After a rather long travel day, the folks and I met Lauren in Aspen for some fine dining at Jimmy's. Here's my wife and Mary shortly after agreeing to share their entrees, providing immense relief to my mother, who had spent several agonizing minutes torn between the wild game and the chicken parm. 
Here's Mary and Angelo posing in front of the Maroon Bells on another cloudless autumn day in Aspen, looking respendent in the very attire they wore to their failed 1997 audition for the Blue Man Group.
A quick shot of a boy and his dog. Maci's proudly sporting her new harness, a gift from a local pet shop owner after our return this fall. As you may or may not have noticed, it's PINK.
/Looks over at dog. Shakes head in disgust. Dog appears indifferent.
The better part of the next two days were spent watching the Phils and putting my parents to work on various odd jobs around the house. By the time Tuesday morning rolled around, they couldn't wait to leave and get back to their minimum-wage gig as indentured servants to my sister. After dropping them off at the airport in Denver, I picked up my brother Mike, which as you know by now, led to this...
I returned home well after midnight Wednesday night, nearly two full days after leaving Aspen. As you might imagine, priority number one was to reconnect with my #1 girl.
Friday was the Phils' championship parade, an event 25 years in the making for one star-crossed city. The parade gave us two diametrically opposed -- yet equally enjoyable and memorable -- manners of celebration.
Which kind of person are you?
Are you a "baby commanding legion of fans=adorable" person?
Or a "me likey gratuitous use of the F-word" kind of person?
God bless Chase Utley. I'm fairly confident members of this 2008 team can legally kill people in Philly now.
