Birthday Bonanza

My week has been consumed with birthday party prep or recognition thanks in large part to upcoming Saturday’s surprise party for my mother-in-law. I get this impression my Favorite Panamanian thinks this is a referendum on her adequacy as a daughter or it just could be she just loves her mother a lot. I’m thinking the latter. We have to switch to English whenever a party detail (who knew there were so many!) so my mother-in-law doesn’t understand what is being discussed. The Man Cave is now residence to several dozen frosted sugar cookies that my Favorite Panamanian was up ‘til almost 1AM frosting. The birthday girl only rarely ventures down here (I’m thinking she’s afraid of what she might find). This qualifies as an acid test for my self-discipline, though as they smell, well, like sugar cookies. Yikes!

The Birthday Boy

I opened up Facebook this morning (yeah, I still use it, so what!) and saw that there were five friends with birthdays today. Whoa! Three were high school classmates including the redoubtable Kindergarten Friend. He is literally my oldest friend as we bonded all the way back in, you guessed it, kindergarten. We would get in trouble over the next few years when he would come home with me or vice versa, without any parental consultation or approval. Our respective parents instituted a drill that before panicking and calling the police they would first call the other parents to confirm it was another of our unannounced play dates.

Getting in Trouble Together Since 1960

One of the very best aspects of returning to New England after my military career has been reuniting with long lost friends. In reality I guess I was the lost one since I wasn’t around for a very long time. At any rate, I count the Kindergarten Friend as one of the most cherished of those reunions. It says a lot about the friendship that we picked it right up as if nearly fifty years hadn’t passed. It doesn’t hurt that he is completely plugged into my hometown pub scene where he is greeted at each pub like a returning hero. He has become the semi-official lore master for my annual birthday pub crawl. He also loves dogs, need I say more. Happy birthday Buddy, your next beer(s) are on me.

Bed and Cookies in the Man Cave

Meanwhile back home, in the Man Cave, party prep has taken on some ominous developments and I’m not talking just about the sugar cookies (which is kind of cool). I now have a double bed in the office part of the Cave. This will be needed for the influx of house guests but this is dangerous territory. House rules clearly state that this is the one area of the house I rule supreme. In the rest of the house, I hold a 49% voting block. I have fought off several cleverly disguised efforts over the years from my Favorite Panamanian when she has tried to extend her suzerainty down the stairs into the Cave. I agreed to this bed and made sure she understood this did not represent a compromise of my authority. I still wondering why she just smiled in the evilest way she is capable of.

FBR Fashioning It Up

Loves her Star Wars

BRS and BR3 in Post Bath Cooldown with Dad

Not much news on the granddaughter fronts this week. The FBR is apparently conducting a fashion show on the walk to the bus each morning and claims to really love first grade. BR3 has developed something akin to a wolf howl every time she sees that we are calling. I think this is very cool and my Favorite Panamanian accuses me of fomenting this type behavior. Guilty and loving it. The best part of the upcoming birthday weekend will be having all three granddaughters (and he attendant chaos) and ¾ of their parental units all under the same roof for a while. Wingman is still on tour so he’ll miss out. I think I’m getting a little excited about the party, even with all the spousal mandates I’ll face in the interim.

In Their More Natural State

This is my Box!

Three movies fell in my A-Z effort, two keepers and one definitely not, Basic Instinct (Great scenery, I’m of course talking about my favorite city, San Francisco), Basic Instinct 2 (So bad, can’t keep it despite being a sequel, Stone is plastic), and Battle: Los Angeles (Great action movie, loved this)

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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 3^rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; 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