Love on the Rock

 

August 30, 2022

Love on the Rock

With Kathy remaining in Colorado for the time being, I found myself solo in Key West and looking for summer activities to keep me entertained. Thankfully there is always a lot happening and this week it involved catching up with some old friends and feeling nostalgic about my time here in Key West. That started when I attended the book release party for my long-time friend Cricket. 

Some years ago, Cricket published a weekly column in the local paper documenting life as a Key West singleton that was called, “Love on the Rock”. Recently she finally got around to compiling the columns into a book and had the entire collection published. Our mutual friend Eric hosted the release party at his home/ art studio and a large gathering of friends and well-wishers was on hand to celebrate the release.

It was great to see so many long-time Key West friends in attendance and gratifying to see Cricket get the recognition and accolades that she deserves for her publication. She read from the work, mingled and sold copies of the book while the crowd sipped wine and enjoyed the party. I couldn’t stay too long as I was dog sitting for our friends’ dog Vinny, a happy young labradoodle that has more energy than a pack of three-year olds.

The second big celebration that I attended this week was the 5oth anniversary party of the iconic ;local restaurant the Half Shell Raw Bar. The place has been an institution in Key West and to celebrate the half century mark, they hosted a massive party, blocking off the parking lot in front of the restaurant and having a full day of live music, contests, fun and seafood at very, very reasonable prices.

The coolest thing they did was invite all their former staff from over the years back, having guest bartenders and waitstaff on hand from the course of their fifty years in operation. Among those who was back on the island was my good friend and former roommate Michelle, who I had not seen in almost twenty years since she departed Key West for Ireland.

She was back with two of her three high-school aged kids, who I had never met from their current home in New York. We have kept in touch since on facebook, but it never is as good as seeing someone in person and I was just thrilled to see and hang out with Michelle and her kids. We even went out to lunch the next day at the Perry Hotel in what was a great reunion.

The Half Shell party was great as there were a ton of familiar faces there and it just so happened that I ran into another old friend and former Key West resident the same day at Blue Heaven when I ran into my old friend Andy Wilson, who I also had not seen in some twenty years. He was here with a group having dinner at Blue Heaven and I was out watching my friend Larry Baeder play music with the legendary Broadway Star Teri Whiite at the restaurant.

It was like old home week and it was so great to catch up with friends who I had not seen in so long and to see how well they are doing was just icing on the cake. Living in Key West has the advantage of getting to meet a lot of people who then move on to different places, meaning that we have friends spread across the globe, which is a really cool thing.