Weekend Mafia Redemption

For those of you intensely worried about my Friday predicament of a Coors Lite shortage, there was redemption. Thanks in large part to the Neighborhood Mafiosos, who led us on a Saturday night dinner/journey and then hosted a fun gathering of the Panamanian Mafia at their house on Sunday. Needless to say, my Coors Lite deficit was more than made up although decidedly more expensive on Saturday. Beer, it turns out, is much costlier when buying in a bar versus wholesale, who knew? 😊 

Saturday Night at the Chinese Bar

The skies opened up on Saturday and the rain didn’t let up until this morning. This always leads to difficulties in getting my Favorite Panamanian and her shopping partner in crime, the Neighborhood Mafioso, to leave the house. Despite both being from one of the rainiest countries on earth, it is incredibly difficult to get them outside when the wet stuff is falling (I think it has something to do with hairdos). We drove out to Holden to eat dinner Saturday night at one of our favorite restaurants, Val’s. While there was a short wait we still had a lot of fun as it was our first chance, as a group, to hang out since our return from Panama. They’ve haven’t lost anything off their fastball as being great people to spend time with.

The Band

The ladies decided, since it was Saturday night that we should seek out a dancing venue. After checking with old favorite, Maxwell Silverman’s who moved to Union Station a couple years ago, we set off for Worcester. Twenty minutes later we pulled into the monolithic station and as we walked towards the restaurant from the bowels of the parking garage, loud music was bellowing from the huge rotunda. We had called ahead to confirm there wasn’t any large wedding or other group renting the venue but this was not a good sign. This was confirmed when we rounded the corner to be confronted by signs indicating a Junior High prom was underway. This was evidenced by some very serious fathers, acting as chaperones, who stood around the perimeter of the event protecting the attendees from the denizens of Union Station as well as the prevalence of teenage hormones. A smart move.

Sunday Mafia Gathering

So it was back to the garage, since dancing was confined to the junior high crowd and we were well short of meeting that age standard. The Mafioso said our best bet would be at a Chinese Restaurant which regularly hosted a live band and dancing. I learned it was, literally, across the street from Val’s, back in Holden. So, twenty minutes later, we were back in Holden, after calling ahead (although that hadn’t been a guarantee of success for the night) to confirm that a live band was playing. It turned out to be a fun crowd at the restaurant and the band was actually pretty good, although the stage may have to have been reinforced to support them. There was no dancing but, again, just fun to be hanging with our best Worcester friends again after the long separation.

My Smuggling Partner in Crime
We Decided Whipped Cream Goes with Everything

Sunday brought the mafia get together. My Favorite Panamanian was shocked that I wouldn’t drive to the event because of the rain. They live, literally, across the street. She somehow survived this arduous trek and enjoyed the party. Once again, so much fun to laugh again with friends we hadn’t seen since 2022, and there was a lot of laughter. My Mafioso counterpart and I have devised a semi-foolproof method of smuggling Coors Lite to me whenever my Favorite Panamanian is distracted (shhh, don’t mention this to her). We used to do this when I had to work the next day but have maintained our practice because you never know when it will come in handy. Great end of a great weekend, all due to friend reunions, and maybe a few undeclared Coors Lites.

Three movies fell in my A-Z watch, all keepers, Death Hunt, Bronson and Marvin – great old school action duo; Deep Blue Sea, great shark action despite worst lead actress (Saffron Burrows) in recent memory; and Deep Impact, different take on Armageddon’s scenario, but it has Tea Leoni!

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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; CRC - Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during him 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; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; 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