I added yet another chapter in the marital journey I’ve taken struggling with Panamanian untimeliness. Tuesday is usually date night for my Favorite Panamanian and I were where we usually take in a movie. Yesterday my wife and her mom were going to do some shopping in the shopping center where the movie theater is located. Since Keene Friend is now semi-retired like certain blog writers I am acquainted with, I invited hm along. Before my wife left on her shopping foray I told her she had to be at the movie theater no later than 4:15pm as the movie started at 4:20. I emphasized the point that didn’t mean to start thinking about moving to the theater at that time but to be walking in the door. She assured me she would not fail. I think we all know where this is headed.
Keene
Friend and I arrived shortly before the appointed time and bought the tickets
and snacks. I thought this would be easy since we were literally two minutes
from where she had to travel from. 4:15, of course, came and went and despite my
increasingly urgent texts I had no sign of her. Over the nearly forty years of
our marriage, I’ve come to minimally tolerate her lack of timeliness despite
the sacred nature of same the military spent a lot of time beating into me over
nearly thirty years. They weren’t going to delay the movie for her though. I love
seeing the previews, especially now, because, due to the pandemic, October is new
cinematic May with a lot of blockbusters coming up. She eventually deigned to
answer the phone and told me she was on her way and why was I texting her so
often, it was now 4:22pm. I told her to look at her watch which ended the
conversation. The final indignity imposed was her choice of arrival mode. She
parked her car on the upper level and walked down to the theater. This added another
five minutes to her arrival time since my nearly 90-year-old mother-in-law is
not exactly an Olympic class sprinter at this point. She wandered into the theater
at 4:31pm without a care in the world. I’m glad I was required to wear a face
mask at this point because if she could have see my expression that would have
started an argument, further delaying getting to our seats. We caught the tail
end of the last preview but the movie was really good which calmed by military
trained timeliness mores to mellow out enough to enjoy it, see review below.
Post Movie Dinner with Keene Friend and Mom in Law
After
the movie Keene Friend treated us all to dinner at a nearby steak house. We ended
up waiting another fifteen minutes for the ladies to arrive since they had one
last purchase to make at the mall. I’m glad I had Keene Friend throughout my “ordeal”
which kept my sanity relatively intact ( as much as ever I hasten to add). It
turned out be a really great date night and my Favorite Panamanian’s complete
lack of concern for the appointed hour was forgotten. Almost. I
caught a story in the local paper last week that I almost glossed over until I noticed
the name of the surgeon who performed my prostate surgery, almost a complete
year ago. I wrote at the time that I was fortunate that technology had
progressed to the point that everything was done robotically, something a
former cadet I trained now sold. Well, it seems in the past year technology has
taken another leap forward with another generation of robot now available. This
one is more precise and only required two small incisions versus the three I
had. I’m glad I didn’t’ wait for that advance but it was cool to see it on the
front page. The ABFA posted some more pictures from their Storyland adventures
this past weekend – look like a great time was had by all.
You See, All Was Forgiven
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| Current State of Street |
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; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course; 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; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten
whom I reunited with after many years; 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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