May 2, 2018- Howdy Partner!

May 2, 2018, Day 2, Year 7-

FREE PRETZEL #2

I met Mary Madden (great full name) during my two year Masters of Education program that we did together, the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE).  She was a Boston College grad ready to volunteer her time and follow in her parents Peace Corp footsteps.  She studied English and Spanish at BC and was one of the lucky 4 chosen to open the Los Angeles community of ACE 7 (7 stands for the graduating class of the program).  We became friends in ACE since we both would be teaching in an elementary school, her in 3rd grade, me in 5th grade in Pensacola. We took a few elementary classes together and since there were only 21 of us, we all stuck together.

And now the back story...

Mary moved back home to Texas after ACE and in the first year she worked at William Sonoma in what she calls the greatest job she's ever had.  She learned how to cook and so many valuable life skills.  After that she attended SMU law school. She has always wanted to be a lawyer since she was a little girl, even though she seems too nice to be a lawyer.  Mary has 3 children, Christopher (9), Josie (6) and Matthew (4).  She now works for a law firm in Dallas called Calhoun, Bhella and Sechrest.

6 years ago or so Mary had little baby Josie and as new moms would be doing and she described to me, she would be feeding her at 12, 2 and 4 am.  Mary said the 4 am feedings were the worst and that she would peruse Facebook and stumbled upon this blog.  She says after reading it, it became part of her early morning ritual and she would get excited to see who would be the next person to get the FREE PRETZEL and then read the story.  She often wondered what the pretzel would taste like and then contacted me through Facebook a few times asking when she could get one. 

As I have stated before. it's not my intent to make mouths water over the internet, but my reach is also a very short one. Therefore, if you happen to be in town during the month of May, make sure you let me know!

In working at her new firm, Mary is also called upon to oversee depositions in different parts of the country.  As luck would have it, she would be in Philadelphia for a deposition in West Chester May 2-3.   Yay! She contacted me through Facebook letting me know that she would be here and wondered if we could get together.  Keep in mind we have not seen each other in person since our graduation from ACE in the summer of 2002.  16 years ago!!!!  That's 4 trips to a 4-year college! 

So I got the pretzel in the afternoon, had a golf match after school, came home in time to put the kids to bed and then boarded the PATCO to meet Mary at her hotel in the Rittenhouse area.

The pretzel gets a train ride!

When I greeted her in the lobby, I was met with the same booming laugh that I knew from 16 years ago.  Her hair was now long and mine was now gone and for some reason the first words out of her mouth were "I don't remember you being that tall."  Uhhh Thanks?

"I can't believe that I am the pretzel recipient. It's a six year dream come true."

The caption of the picture were Mary's exact words.  The crazy thing is, that if you are following the blog, most people have the same reaction.  In this case, being so far away in Texas, following the blog and thinking it would be cool to be a part of it, but knowing it's unrealistic, this was really cool for her.  Mary is anything but untruthful.  She would be the world's worst poker player.  She says what she means and doesn't sugar coat it.  

We had a nice meal at the Marathon Grill where we talked about life, our families, kids, jobs and even our time at ND.  It was really fun.  After dinner we were walking back to her hotel and noticed that there happened to be a Philly Pretzel Factory on the street, one block from her hotel.  To my amazement it was open 24 hours!!!  Like what???!!!!  Since Mary's FREE pretzel was a little hard, even though she said it was pretty damn good, I wanted to make sure she tried a fresh one.  I explained all the different types of things that they sell, including rivets, pretzel dogs and pretzel cheesesteaks.  

I was dumbfounded that they were open 24 hours.  She didn't care and talked us into 3 braids for $5

We got three pretzel braids and on our walk back to the hotel we gave the extra to a man on the street.  I hope he appreciated it.  

During the night we discovered that our fathers were both at Notre Dame at the same time, hers graduating in 1961, mine in 1962.  We couldn't get over the fact that we had not seen each other in 16 years, yet it seemed like we were able to pick up right where we left off.  Facebook might have something to do with that.  We talked about people from ACE and what they were doing now and she shared how happy she was to be back in the Northeast and the enjoyment of the hustle and bustle of a city, similar to Boston, where she went to school.  

She told me that she really wanted to see some historical places and as luck would have it her deposition the next day finished early and she was able to get down to Independence Hall and even sent me a picture of her at the Liberty Bell.  She was extremely excited.  

This FREE PRETZEL adventure was definitely one of the more memorable in the 7 years and was only helped by the fact that Mary was so genuinely excited.  Please take note Melissa Tacey and Kelly Orsi!!  This goes for all of my out of town friends.  Jersey and Philly are lovely in May!

  

Thanks for dinner Mary Madden.

Until tomorrow...