7 Day Sentence and Another Goodbye

My heart is with my younger sister this week as she deals with the funeral of her beloved husband. Great Aunt is shouldering the load for our side of the family representation due to my tropical location. That tropical location is a lot less biddable today as I have been sentenced to seven days without swimming or boogie boarding. That’s a full quarter of the time I have left in Panama! I mentioned earlier on the blog that my ear still felt like it was full of water. It didn’t hurt but I was concerned it was another ear infection such as that sidelined me two years ago. My Favorite Panamanian returned from her time with her mom on Sunday and decreed we were going to the doctor on Monday.

Pee Wee and I Sizing up the Back Yard Birds

So yesterday we drove back to David where the heat was truly oppressive. You know it’s on a whole ‘nother level if the Panamanians are saying it’s too hot. We stopped in at the same clinic we used a couple years ago but the cute doctor no longer works there. She’s been replaced by a young guy who took no pity on me. We told him I had, at the urging of my wife, used some hydrogen peroxide in the ear to hopefully clean up any blockage. This was the universal recommendation of the Panamanian side of the family. It turns out. Not a good idea. He said the only body part I should be using to clean my ears was my elbow. Meaning of course, that I shouldn’t be probing them with Q-Tip’s (guilty) and certainly not using hydrogen peroxide. The wife looked appropriately abashed at that comment.

Saturday Night Sunset Ceremony Included a Dog!

It turned out I didn’t have an ear infection but the ear was definitely highly irritated, probably due to the home treatment. I was relieved to hear about no infection and envisioned myself back in the pool on Tuesday. Alas, that was not to be. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic ear drop treatment and seven days without ear submersion. Damn!! My Favorite Panamanian looked appropriately amused because the waves have been large and she worries. Today was my first day of enforced dry land training and the power went out at 6am, so no AC. This falls into the insult to injury category. My wife is craftily using my sentence to accomplish a two day trek into the mountains to visit relatives, something I wouldn’t have left the beach for, if I could still use my boogie board. Oh yeah, total cost of the in person doctor visit, $8.

After a Couple Misses, Finally Got a Great Sunset Last night

The New Jersey bunch is dealing with much larger problems that my lack of aquatic pursuits. Their beloved family cat, Pee Wee, had to be put to sleep yesterday. While he and I may have had a checkered past, mainly derived from an all-night awake hotel session when they first moved back to New Jersey (with my roommate Wingman, constantly reminding me how much my daughter loved Pee Wee to prevent taking the law into my own hands). Pee Wee was literally a rescue cat. Fifteen years ago, shortly after their marriage, Wingman noticed a small kitten coarsely tied up to a pole outside a NYC coffee shop. He freed the kitten and then asked the crowd in the shop who owned the cat. Everybody pointed at a full grown man, garbed in some sort of diaper as his only clothing. Obviously one of the Big Apple’s many eccentric crazies. He wouldn’t admit to ownership so Wingman took the kitten home, went to vet’s, and prepared to explain the acquisition to his bride.

Always Ready to Assist with Food Prep

Not only was this just after their marriage and before their honeymoon, but my daughter had recently lost Keanu, her previous cat to some sort of malady. It took guts for Wingman but he knew how important a feline presence was to his new bride. One look at Pee Wee was all it took. This started the fifteen year journey together that ended yesterday. He trekked with them to California, where they welcomed the FBR, and then back to New Jersey. He was a great cat on so many levels, even if he couldn’t jump up on counters (a plus really). They brought him up for Christmas and he was an elusive house guest (canine influenced) until the food prep started. He and I mended our relationship and I always looked forward to having him jump into my lap while I watched late night TV on our New Jersey visits.

I was worried about the FBR but she, like most 8 year olds, dealt with it with some tears and then seemed fine. I know this was devastating for my daughter since Pee Wee was her office mate when she worked from home, starting in California all the way through the pandemic up to Monday morning. Even Wingman abandons his cool rock star vibe when he talks about Pee Wee. He was truly an integral part of the family and so many pictures of the FBR as she grew up include her pursuit of Pee Wee who didn’t initially approve of the new interloper. Pets have always been an important part of our family and Pee Wee was the latest in a long line of cats and was certainly one of, if not the very best.

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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; Seis Amigos - two couples from our condo complex and my wife and I; Soxfather - my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course