I thought a family tradition died last night. One of the very few good things to come out of 2020 and the Covid pandemic was the Family First Friday FaceTime call. This replaced the First Friday time at the bar, which were, of course, all closed. I’ve noticed the waning of attendance as the granddaughters have gotten older, but they were never the focus as I truly enjoyed the times speaking with my son, daughter, Sister, Wingman, and the ABFA. Yesterday my son was too busy to participate and after a brief drive by with the FBR, she had to sign off to appropriately hostess a movie night with some her friends. Great Aunt was late, so after a couple minutes, it was just me and my Coors Lite on the call. Great Aunt did eventually log on and was followed in short order by my daughter who snuck away from the movie night festivities. When I mentioned it might be time to pull the plug on the Friday calls, they both vociferously disagreed. Apparently they look forward to them as much as I do. The calls will continue.
The first-floor redecoration project (of
my Favorite Panamanian, of course) took a huge step forward today with the
acquisition of a new table. The current table is too small for the entire
family at Christmas breakfast, so needed replacing. I guess. She and the Neighborhood
Mafioso are always dangerous when they disappear into the sopping nether world.
That happened yesterday afternoon as they set out in search of the elusive curtain
rods. I failed to mention that my wife failed to find them during the thunder run
to Keene. That didn’t curtail additional shopping though while we were there. We
do have time with granddaughters coming up, always a source of motivation when
it comes to acquisitionary behavior from their abuela. At any rate, they found
the curtain rods (I knew you were worried), although to get the four we needed,
required trips to three different stores. That’s the cool thing about living
around Worcester, there are so many stores in the surrounding communities that
they check inventories of sister stores and send them on their way.
The Call Last Night, so Much Fun
There so many stores that the ladies, in
their search, came across the aforementioned table which they proclaimed was a
perfect replacement for the existing glass topped table next to the kitchen.
The kicker was delivered when I asked when it was going to be delivered. She answered
by asking me when I could go get it; the store doesn’t deliver. The glass top for
the table is huge and my track record with breakable items isn’t strong. My Favorite
Panamanian is well aware of that well-earned reputation so she was a more than
a little nervous. They drafted the friend of the Mafisoso’s daughter to volunteer
to help with his truck. I brought a lot of cushions and quilts for the glass
and got it into the house without breaking anything although it was a bona fide
workout. A true victory.
The New Table
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 3rd 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
No comments:
Post a Comment