As anyone who reads this blog knows, I have always been a huge fan of celebrating the First Friday of the Week. I also find it personally devastating that I haven’t been in a bar since March; 2020 indeed. One of the best developments out of the restrictions forced upon us by the pandemic has been the First Friday Family FaceTime video chats. My daughter has organized them since the spring and it never fails to have a marked improvement in my morale. My daughter always receives a less than welcome text from me at 4:59pm requesting the start time. To her credit she always rushes to complete work to get us started.
My overly large
Mexican sombrero has become a signature feature of the calls although I am no
longer allowed to perform my beer bottle balancing trick on its brim,
especially since the cold weather forced us inside. I truly appreciate my two
kids for putting up with these as I know what a challenge trying to have a conversation while
chasing down my energetic granddaughters. A case in point would be last evening
when the BRS figured out how to lock her dad, my son, out of the house. The
rest of us laughed uncontrollably as the BRS looked out a side window, with a
disturbing evil grin, at her frustrated dad.
BRS & BR3 in Matching Outfits Gifted by my Daughter
Luckily
he was outside awaiting the ritualistic Friday pizza delivery which he was able
to bribe his way back into the house with. The other challenge for the call is
that Friday night is movie night for the New Jersey bunch. If the FBR behaves
all week in school she’s rewarded a full-on movie night with popcorn and all
the fixings. After about thirty minutes of the First Friday FaceTime call she
starts campaigning to end the call so they can get on with movie night. That leads
to what has become one of the best parts of our Friday calls.
Hard to Believe she can Manage an Evil Grin
BR3 Now Objects to Lying Down
She Wants to Sit up and Observe
As
both the kids’ families fall off the call my Favorite Panamanian and I continue
the fun with Great Aunt and Soxfather. It has been so frustrating not to be able
to hang out with them for so many months that this helps in a large way. Last
night both kids were off by 5:40 but we continued laughing and reminiscing with
the Rhode Islanders until after 7pm. It helps push back the loneliness of
quarantine a little; especially as we march into the holiday season where so
many beloved traditions will have to be modified. Long live First Friday!
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RECURRING CHARACTERS
BR3 – granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first
granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best
Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman
– my son in law; Keene Friends 1 & 2
– friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since
grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to
attract women; Pittsburgh College
Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which
grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two
close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3rd musquetera
(musketeer); Riggins - also known as
the Grandpuppy, son's dog; PanaGals
– female relatives/friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife
accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia
member, Favorite Panamanian - the
wife (of course); First Friday –
celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her
single days in Brooklyn
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