There was a time in the mists of the distant past when I could attend two graduation parties after a long morning working on a brick wall and feel no after effects whatsoever. That was a long time ago. It does not diminish in any way the great time I had yesterday celebrating high school graduations of two close friends’ grandchildren; the whole wall thing I could have done without. I noticed lately that the lowest terrace wall in my wife’s vast garden complex was starting to lean out. My Favorite Panamanian pointedly remarked that this was unacceptable and I was charged with fixing it. I thought it would be a minor repair such as I ran into last year. An hour before First Friday was suppose to start I began pulling bricks out to investigate. And kept pulling and pulling, until nearly three quarters of the entire wall was gone.
It was at this point a smart guy would
have stopped since a very busy day was planned for Saturday. Unfortunately, he
wasn’t involved in this process. I figured I could jump on it in the morning and
knock it out before the first party. While that turned out to be true, it made
for a very long morning. On the up side I got a very good workout. This was the
first wall I built in the back yard and at the base of the hill it gets a lot
of water. I found that over the years the bottom row, which necessarily supports
the rest of the structure, had literally migrated back into the hill, hence the
lean from the rows above. It must have been a combination of the seasonal
freezes or just a simple curse from above.
Party #1, Wife in Hat Next to the Czechs
Wall Work, Had to Rebuild from where front of Wheelbarrow is 
About Halfway Done, You can See Lean on wall to Left 
Cave-in Dirt Evacuated
The problem being, I had to extricate
those bricks to reestablish a stable wall. The back yard chipmunks helped by establishing
an extensive tunnel system behind the wall which meant once the wall was
removed the dirt it held back was unstable and prone to fall just as I pulled the
brick out, at least five different times. My Favorite Panamanian was looking a little
concerned as she saw the fault line for falling dirt approaching some recent
plantings. There was decidedly less concern for her semi-submerged husband digging
out from the cave-ins. I ended up wheelbarrowing the fallen dirt out of the way
until I could get the wall re-established. The last hour was a bit of a fire
drill as I knew departure time for the first party was fast approaching. I
received a running commentary from the family of chipmunks about the depredations
I inflicted on their home but the wall is back up and not leaning.
Wall Restored
The first party was near our old home in
Charlton at the home of a member of the Latina Mafia celebrating her grandson’s
high school graduation. They have a pool in the back yard and had set up tents
for the crowd. We were just getting settled in with the crowd when I received an
anxious summons from the lady my wife was talking to. I rushed over to find my Favorite
Panamanian laboring to breath. I felt a little helpless as I supported her and
another party guest, a nurse, came over to see if she could help. Gradually she
was able to take a few halting breathes and returned to normal after a very
scary, thankfully brief time. She’s been increasingly sensitive to pollen as
she’s gotten older and this back yard was surrounded by even more flowers than
my wife’s garden (I know, hard to believe) as well as many pine trees. The nurse
said she probably had a reaction to the pollen which caused her throat to constrict
just as she was about to swallow. 
Second Party
The rest of our time there was a lot
more fun and markedly less frightening. We spent a lot of time catching up with
our Czech friends which always makes for a good time. We hadn’t seen them since
last year so it was time well spent. The party’s host told me where the beer
was hidden, away from questing graduating seniors. Times have certainly changed
from when I graduated (okay that’s a bit of a vast understatement) which was
extremely beer soaked, as street signs came under attack from miniature Miller
bottles, but I digress. Another member of the Panamanian Mafia also showed up
with her family which added to the fun. Great food, superb people, and perfect weather,
a completely excellent send off for the graduates. It was a great afternoon
spent with some truly excellent people on a fantastic late spring day. 
Guy's Table
We had to leave in the late afternoon to
make our way back to Worcester to change clothes for the second party. My Favorite
Panamanian, recovered from her constricted throat, was performing designated driver
duties as we headed back west to Auburn. The second party was for the granddaughter
of the Neighborhood Mafioso and was at the recently reconstructed VFW post where
we’d had so many entertaining times before it burned down a couple years ago. The
graduate here is heading to my alma mater and pursuing the same type degree my Favorite
Son did there, so I dutifully donned my UNH Wildcat shirt for the fiesta. I was
impressed with the rebuilt post and the function room where the party was held.
The graduate co-hosted the party with her best friend, a Greek gal. It felt
almost like a wedding reception but a lot less ceremony involved. We quickly
spotted the Mafioso across the room when we entered. We arrived at the table to
find they had established separate table for the guys and the gals.
The Ladies
This led to a lot of fun as it was much
harder for the ladies to supervise us with this setup. Fortunately, that did
not lead to any international incidents. At least I don’t think it did. There was
even more food and drinks as we older folks celebrated whilst the graduates
flitted around the room with a lot more energy than our group. There was a
dance floor but music selection was at the mercy of the graduates which meant a
lot less appropriate music for our age group. We did get out there for a couple
songs but this ended quickly when they put on a series of Greek folk songs. It
hardly mattered though as I welcomed the respite from physical activity as my
morning full of wall building was catching up with me. This allowed me the opportunity
to hang at the table and laugh almost continuously with a singularly fantastic
group of friends. Recovery operations are in full swing as I write this today.
That means I made the most of the time I blessed to spend with some truly
exceptional people yesterday. 
Graduate (l) and her Mom (r)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RECURRING CHARACTERS:
ABFA – Amazing Best Family
Athlete - my daughter
in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter
#3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel -
second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue
about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Curbside Girls – close friends of my
daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions
once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite
Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR
- First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since
high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited
with after many years; Maine and
Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my
wife is the 3rd musquetera (musketeer); Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia
member; 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; Pittsburgh
College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in
Pittsburgh; Riggins - also known as
the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Soxfather
- my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my
son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s
mom, of course
No comments:
Post a Comment