We usually have Hubbellpalooza in conjunction with the golf tournament but not this year. I believe this was the first time we ever held the tournament without JP. After Zack's wedding in June and with Hootie's wedding coming up in September, he didn't have any days left. It was also the first time we ever had a women's division. Two gals finished all 36 holes and they did themselves proud. Plenty of the young men didn't shoot as well as they did. My neice Martha won the women's division and I put her name on the trophy. It's the last name to be squeezed onto the traveling trophy we've used since the tournament's inception 25 years ago. There's no room for any more names. But I made sure her name was on it. I'm the official inscriber so I get to make those calls. 16 years ago, Jay won the tourney and his name just might be slightly larger than any of the others...
So, those were two firsts. The other was the lack of party planning. Not that it made much difference, as the party that Ty threw at my house was a smash. He ordered 18 pizzas and several people brought chips, dip and beverages. I spent the afternoon baking cookies.
I made a giant batch of chocolate chip cookies while Jay was off on the links. I cranked up Megan Trainor tunes and danced around the kitchen while the cookies baked. It's one of my favorite ways to spend an afternoon. Margy and Mom came by around 4. Margy brought several bottles of wine. We sat on the porch and called Heidi and she joined us. We polished off the first two bottles before anyone else showed up. Then Megan and the kids arrived, bearing chips and home made salsa and it became a real party. Soon after that, the golfers began arriving and Ty ordered the pizzas.
Although the deck was damp, no one minded and the party was mostly outside. I have no idea how many people there were, inside, outside, front and back. I know that I ended up in the chairs on the front hill with My Mom, several sisters, a daughter in law and a bunch of grandkids, watching the sunset and talking. The lack of mosquitos made it very nice, even after dusk.
Mom made the executive decision that henceforth, the after tourney party would be held at the course, where they actually are set up with food and beverages and no work for anyone! Most of us had no idea that was even an option and we all agreed it was genius.
A new trophy is being created for next year's tournament. We all agreed that as the tournament has changed from the Hubbell Open to the JGHMemorial Invitational, a new trophy was called for, even if it hadn't been for the fact that there's no more room to inscribe the names of future champions.
So next year will begin a new era. New trophy, new divisions, new players and a new venue for the party.
The one thing that will never change is that Woody won. Again.
25 years and his name is on that bucket 12 times.
It's nice to know there are some things you can count on.