If you are a fan of horse racing (or just keep up with the news), you know that the Kentucky Derby will be run today, a race that is also known as the Run for the Roses. Just a little research on the Net will tell you that this race is the 134th one to be run, and that Big Brown is a favorite to win. Time will tell. For some reason, yesterday I commented to a fellow garden blogger about gents putting us through our paces. I suppose I was unconsciously alluding to the race, which I didn't even realize was taking place until I turned on the news this morning. Weird, huh? Anyway, you are probably wondering what the picture above has to do with horse racing. Well, it doesn't have anything to do with it, unless you count the roses in the background as an enduring symbol. This picture was taken by a stranger (at our request) a few years ago at Bellingrath Gardens in Alabama. We were visiting the garden with some new friends, Lenny and Maria (the couple on the left). They had just moved to Florida from Hawaii and were missing the lush flora they were accustomed to. I hope the visit to the garden refreshed them. I don't know for sure because we lost touch with them. They both took new jobs shortly after this picture was taken, we got busy with our various tasks, and somehow we drifted apart from them.
I guess what I am trying to say, in my usual peripatetic way, is that I get frustrated with how many times I have let something enduring like friendship slip through my fingers. Instead, I fix my focus on something of little consequence like working a few more hours to make extra money or studying harder to make that next "A."
The Kentucky Derby takes about two minutes to run, but the hoopla surrounding it goes on for weeks in Louisville. And what does the net result mean in the real scheme of things? Sure, lots of money for the winners, headache and heartache for the losers, but does the world become a better place to live after those two minutes expire? Does it become cleaner, more beautiful, more peaceful? I hope that my brief time on this earth, my "two minutes," will produce more than just money, headache, or heartache for the people I leave behind me. Only time will tell.
It's pronounced "Loo a vull," just in case you didn't know. And I lived in Louisville until I was 16, never once attended the Run for the Roses.
ReplyDeleteYes, I know how it's pronounced. I used to perturb friends in Paducah when we lived there by mispronouncing it (purposely!) as Louie-ville. I've never been to the horse race either. I doubt if I could afford the ticket price. You know, I had forgotten about this post. You're the first commenter. Thank you!
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