Sunday, September 20, 2009

The King of Hop...


Forget the King of Pop, he is old news. The King of Hop is where it's at! It's been a couple of weeks since I've added any info, so we have a few updates...CANvention, ER, Hop in the City. At least his latest trip to the ER was surrounded by fun beer events! First, the minor setback...2 weekends ago Dad had to go to the emergency room. He was running fever and feeling lousy. Turned out to be a couple of infections, but nothing too serious. They released him from the ER, put him on antibiotics and within a few days he was much better.

Friday, September 11th, Mom and Dad, with my Aunt Mary as their personal assistant, drove to Springfield, IL for the 39th CANvention. Dad made it to the Tontine Luncheon and signed in. Thereby keeping his name on the coveted list of those who have attended every CANvention and still in the running for the cans they all contributed the first year. They sadly told me of a friend who didn't make it this year who was in the hospital. Dad was feeling very lucky and was so happy to be there. I believe there are 16 Tontines remaining. Like I said before, it will take more than pancreatic cancer to scratch off his name!

Yesterday on September 19th, Dad was the Honorary Chair of the Hop in the City event at Schlafly Tap Room. This was a huge spirit lifter for him and he did great! They named him The King of Hop, which of course included a crown, sash, and scepter. I've included his picture when he arrived (at the top)...looking good!!

Here's another with the crown. This one cracks me up, because the man has not butt and I caught him while he was pulling up his pants. When they did the whipple procedure and took out a good portion of his insides, apparently they did a buttectomy! Wish I could get that done, only without the cancer ;) Genetically, I didn't get his lack of tush!!

Anyway, the day was great, Dad made it about an hour and had good friends, like Beer Dave and the Ohlendorfs, along with the Schlafly crew there. He also had a good family showing with my 2 cousins Roberta and Regina coming along. My friend Jackie Billet went to the wrong Schlafly location or she would have been there too...her luck continues, like the day she got stranded on the side of the Boston Turnpike, but that's a story for another blog entry!! So the King of Hop had lots of love along with hundreds of others cheering for him. It was a great day!

One of the highlights, in my opinion, was the bottles of 'chemotherapy ale' the good people at Schlafly gave to Dad. These were custom labels made just for him. Seriously, can you think of a bigger honor than having your own beer?? I'm totally jealous! Troika did a fantastic job on creating the labels. Troika we think you are amazing!! Here's a link to a picture of the label: http://stlhops.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Henry-bottle.jpg

Thanks again to Tom Schlafly and everyone at both Schlafly locations for showing Dad the love. He was truly honored. Next big beer event...the book release!!

2 comments:

  1. He looks so good - and I'm so glad he has been able to participate in these events! Again, if there is ANYTHING we can do, just say the word!

    Love to all...
    Jules

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  2. H2,
    Glad you're back home. This must be a great boon to you and yours. Wanted to go to the King 'o Hop event at Schlafly's but was out of town. Ran into Otto at the bottleworks and gave him the good news that you've been back home for a few weeks. Hope to see you and Elain at Joe's retirement par-tay. I'll bring a couple of cold homebrews (American wheat and a Blackberry wheat). All the best,
    Dave D.

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