End of Watch

Cheering on the Sox with My Daughter and a Very Happy FBR

We just returned from New Jersey where we had the gloomy task of ending our watch over the FBR. That task was rescued by the reaction of the FBR once she realized we were pulling up to her house and spying my daughter stepping out the front door. She squealed with a delightful, “Mommy” as my daughter approached the car. We decided to drive down to New Jersey yesterday instead of the planned Sunday double drive. We now have a flight scheduled for Panama on Monday and six hours of driving would not mesh well with that effort.

Back with Mommy

It was very tough to relinquish the company of the FBR who takes every opportunity to worm her way even further into our hearts and I didn’t think that was even possible. She topped off her stay with us by taking part in a special First Friday celebration. My HR Director recently purchased her dream house on a nearby lake. She and my Favorite Panamanian conspired to hijack our normal First Friday at Brew City and moved it to the new house. The FBR spied the lake and made a bee line for the dock with her grandfather in trail. Since I’m the boss I was expected to spend at least some time with my employees back up on the deck. The FBR was having none of that as we spent time befriending a duck and throwing mud.

Dockside with the FBR

View from House Keene Friend on Mid-Deck

Beautiful House Seen from Dock

Keene Friend eventually brought out a supply of bubbles with which we were able to coax the FBR away from the lake and allowed me to properly welcome Friday with a couple beers although I had to do that while chasing bubbles on the mid-deck. Pizza eventually arrived and the whole group adjourned to the house which offered some spectacular views of the lake. I loved the house; it even had one of those automatic toilets that was kind of intimidating. I wouldn’t want this as a retirement house though because of all the stairs down to the lake but that’s probably my knees talking.

Duck Friend

Pizza Dinner - Keene Friend on Left

FBR Instructing on Proper Cookie Consumption

The drive to New Jersey went well, timed with the FBR‘s nap time, a critical timing requirement. We did stop for a happy meal at what the FBR loudly pronounced was her favorite restaurant. My daughter said she’d only been there once before but I appreciated her enthusiasm. The Saturday drive allowed us some quality time with my daughter and Wingman which is always a great time. We arrived just in time to see the Red Sox tie up their game in the 9^th inning. As we settled in for extra innings we taught the FBR the traditional Red Sox chant of “Here We Go Red Sox, Here We Go!”. She picked it up quickly, a tribute to her blood lines, and celebrated with the rest of us when the Sox won on a grand slam.

Back with Wingman

And her Friends

The New Jersey bunch took the FBR to a neighborhood birthday party so the FBR could reconnect with her legion of friends. My wife and I stayed back at the house to decompress from our long week of parenting and renovations, even though it seemed to blow by with unprecedented speed. We attempted a Facetime call with the BRS which the FBR was very excited about. Unfortunately the BRS had fled the house with the ABFA since my Favorite Son was hosting a “Beer Olympics” with a bunch of his friends. At least that’s what I think he said. Lucidity of speech is usually the first casualty of these type events (I base this opinion on extensive personal research)

We left right after breakfast this morning with the requisite pain of leaving these special people behind us. Sunday morning turns out to be a nice time to sneak across the Tappan Zee bridge without the usual half hour backup. Coming home we quickly realized how quiet the house had become. It was too depressing to see the wide swath of toys and other FBR debris strewn about the house. I moved to store quickly everything away because it was too painful to see. The toughest part was her pool out on Deckzilla since we spent so much time over the past week out there. The only ameliorating factor is that we get the FBR back for another week at the end of August.