Birthday Solitude

First of all, thank you to all the wonderful friends and family who reached out yesterday to wish me a happy birthday. My favorite was from the BRS who shyly wished me a happy birthday in a video the ABFA sent which I can't get to load properly here.  It was a very quiet day spent mostly in solitude, recovering from traveling to and properly recognizing the more socially significant birthday of the FBR. My Favorite Panamanian labored to make the day special for me but I told her not to worry because the real celebration will be this coming weekend with my annual birthday pub crawl. At the same time, I wish I had a couple close friends nearby that I could have shot out to a local bar for a couple brews with but that’s on me. I’ll more than make up for it on this coming weekend.

Screenshot from Adorable Video

I also had to inform the cousin in chief for my father’s family that we wouldn’t be attending the annual Thanksgiving Day celebration at her house. This marked the second year in a row that I’ve had to relinquish one of my favorite days of the year but Covid concerns for the granddaughters ruled that out. We’re just going to have to celebrate extra hard at home to make up for missing that family gathering. Speaking of celebrating, today marks the birthday of not only Great Aunt but Tia Loca as well.

Birthday Girl 1

Birthday Girl 2

It is a well acknowledged part of family lore that my arrival on the scene in 1955 completely ruined what would have been Great Aunt’s first birthday party. She’s been a good sport about it ever since although she did try to abscond with some of birthday cake back in the day. Luckily, I was “smart” enough to hide it under my desk until it went rock hard stale. Yet another legend from family history that certain elder sisters and Cantankerous Friends never let me outlive. It was around this time forty years ago that I first met my Favorite Panamanian, having shortly returned from Great Aunt and Soxfather’s wedding. It wasn’t too long after that I met my future wife’s younger sister, Tia Loca, and learned she shared the same birthday as Great Aunt. It was almost as if it was meant to be. Tia Loca and I have had an interesting relationship ever since. It could be why I’m training granddaughters to call her Tia Loca, which, so far, the FBR has resisted. We’re going out to eat this evening with Great Aunt and Soxfather to celebrate the two birthdays and I’m sure I’ll hear the birthday cake story again. I’ll just have to bring up the novel way my elder sister chose to cook her turkey on a couple of occasions. That’s what little brothers are for.

FBR Has not Given up on her Celebration

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RECURRING CHARACTERS                                           

BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – 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 3^rd 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