My fall soccer season started with an early morning scrimmage against a much younger Lexington team. Our manager feels that these “tune-up” matches against faster opponents force us to play better soccer. We managed to squeeze out a 3-2 win despite missing some of our better players. I played for 45 minutes of the game and the only thing that can be said of my effort is that I did not get injured.

Next on the birthday weekend agenda was a visit to the Old North Bridge and Visitor’s Center. Despite having lived in the Boston area for several years, neither Mark nor Marie had ever been there. Normally, after playing soccer, I spend the balance of the day on the couch but managed to find just enough energy to keep up during the walking tour.

Jeanine gets credit for planning the events of the weekend based on what she knew to be Marie’s wishes. High on that list was a sailing outing for which we rented three boats at the Piers Park Sailing Center. We were joined by our nephew, John, our niece, Rachel, and her boyfriend, Rob as well as Maya and Kyle. The winds were weaker than ideal necessitating some strategic paddling but being on the water was ever so relaxing. After returning to shore we were joined by Nicolai and Owen, Maya’s boyfriend, for dinner at the Tall Ships Warf.