Well, the Christmas tree is up. After the kids left on Sunday, we returned to our old Charlton haunts to pick one up as anything surrounding Christmas was bound to lift spirits after the aforementioned departures. As usual, my involvement was getting the tree inside and standing with the lights on. After that point I am forbidden from participation in the decorating process. I think it has something to do with my absolute lack of any sense of style. Each year, when I see what my Favorite Panamanian renders, I understand. She has once again created a beautiful Christmas tree. Now, all we need are a few grandchildren careening around the house to herald the actual holiday.
Tree is Up, My Work is Done 
So My Wife Could Do this
We awoke this morning to some really good news from Panama. The country has been in gridlock for months with most of the roads blocked in protest of a new contract the government signed with a Canadian mining company to open a huge open pit copper mine in the Panamanian rain forest. There was an outcry from the entire company as most people realized most of the money gleaned would end up in the politicians’ pickets while the environmental damage would be devastating. Yesterday the supreme court, bowing to the tidal wave of popular discontent, ruled the contract was unconstitutional and today the roads started opening up. My Favorite Panamanian was in tears upon hearing the news and spent most of the morning celebrating via Facetime with her family in Panama.
I know it’s hard to believe (based on how long the last post was) but I forgot to include one of the funniest moments from the past weekend. On Friday, at Great Aunt’s house, I was watching some football with Wingman when someone came in to tell me some horrible news. The ABFA had taken it upon herself to teach my Favorite Panamanian how to shop online. Anyone who knows my wife realizes she is an absolute savant when it comes to shopping but she has always been stymied when confronted with the electromagnetic spectrum, relying on me to make online purchases. I was happy with this brief respite from the relentless attack on financial resources my wife’s shopping usually entails. Upon hearing the news, I bellowed (loudly), “She did what!!!!” and set out for the table where the ABFA and my wife were sitting. The ABFA upon hearing my roar started sinking below table level cautioning everyone to be quiet. That’s where I found her when I came into the room and it was too funny. I love her and have no illusions about any of her lessons sticking. My Favorite Panamanian will never give up the primacy of grazing actual stores.
I
heard of the passing of one of the biggest influences in my Army career today. Colonel
Bill Williamson was my regimental commander in the Old Guard in the early 1980s
and selected me for company command. I was thinking of getting out of the Army after
command and he, more than anyone, convinced me to stay. He saw something in me and
made sure my professional record noted that with phenomenal command performance
reports. In a strange twist of fate, when I retired and began work in the transit
industry we were reunited. He was a senior vice president in the company I went
to work for and once again went out of his way to make sure I was being taken
care of. He could never get me to stop calling him "Sir", even though we retired at the same rank. We exchanged emails over the past few years and when they stopped a
month ago I began to wonder. I heard the news of his passing from one of my
former transit contacts and it caused me to reflect on how much I owed him for
my success in the Army. Tough, but a very fair commander, who taught me a lot. 
The ABFA, Hearing of my Approach
Two
movies fell in my A-Z watch, both keepers: The Heat, so funny, with Bullock
serving as able foil to hilarious McCarthy; and Heavy Metal, have always just
loved this animated movie featuring everything an arrested adolescent would
want in a move (is it possible to fall in love with a cartoon character(s)?).
R.I.P. Sir, Thanks for the Guidance
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
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