Curious Redeployment

I’ll get to the curious part when I write about our arrival in Boston. I guess that’s called burying the lead but, what can I say, I was never a journalist. We have successfully returned to our Worcester home which is decidedly less tropical than our home in Las Lajas, but that’s the way it’s supposed to be. We still haven’t completely unpacked because that’s going to take some time and energy, which currently is better spent in catching up on everything that needs to be done in the house, like renewing the car registration which expired in February (Whoops). Luckily that can be handled on line. I got the flag pole back up to signal our return to the neighborhood. I’ve made it through the stack of junk mail and bills (is that redundant?) and we now have to hit the grocery store, so we can, eat.

El Fogon Farewell Dinner

Closing up the condo was poignantly sad. I say poignant because it really has become a second home to us and preparing it to weather the eight months of our absence in its tropical environs was a two day job (4 if you’re my Favorite Panamanian). She finally pronounced us ready to leave after our last sunset ceremony with the Upstairs Neighbors and the final of a seemingly endless laundry loads finished up in the dryer and was packed into plastic bins. I snapped this picture of the condo as we left and it looked sad, abandoned, and nothing like the home my Favorite Panamanian has created over the years. We left earlier than expected because a threatened road closure that turned out to be just a negotiating tactic. It turned out for the good because it gave my wife added time with her mom. We ended the day with a family dinner at El Fogon saying goodbye to my friend/waiter Everardo.

Sad Condo

Last Sunset Ceremony

Last Las Lajas Sunset

My brother-in-law gave us a ride to the airport Thursday morning which was a huge help and rescued me from one last drive through David’s demented traffic patterns. Our flights on Copa were typically awesome with only a short layover in Panama City between flights. During our approach to Panama City I snapped these photos showing some of my old haunting grounds from my mis-spent lieutenancy in the early 1980s. I got pictures of Fort Kobbe/Howard Air Force Base, the Amador Causeway and adjacent Canal, and finally Panama City which is so much bigger and more developed than back in the day. I also snapped a picture of a beautiful coral reef in the middle of the Caribbean as we flew over and the southern coast of Cuba.

Kobbe/Howard in the Distance
Ships Waiting to Enter the Canal in Foreground

Amador Causeway and Panama Canal

Panama City

The Caribbean Reef

Southern Coast of Cuba

The flight got interesting as we approached Boston. We heard a loud bang from almost directly underneath us when we were about forty minutes out of Boston. It remains a mystery because there was no announcement from the cockpit as to what it was. They probably didn’t know either, thank God from aviation redundancies. The mysteries continued upon arriving in Boston where we were treated to an amazing sunset that harkened back to Las Lajas. The mystery involved the plane driving past the international terminal and ending up in a far corner of the airfield. They wheeled up an old-style staircase for us to disembark. I kidded the stewardess that they hadn’t been paying their rent at the terminal but she nervously said it was security related and pointed at a nearby law enforcement dude. Still a mystery though as we boarded a bus back to the terminal and the seemingly endless immigration line (felt like I was back in Disney world with the switchback line). That long wait though meant our luggage was waiting when we finally emerged and we linked up with our slightly grumpy van driver. We arrived home around ten PM and found the house in great shape, nearly buried under the mountain of aforementioned junk mail. A hasty making of the bed ended the day for the my Favorite Panamanian while I descended to the Man Cave to insure all the electronics worked. They did, although the cable system gave me a few startling moments (I guess it resented its lack of use in 2024). So, we’re home, sort of. We’ll truly be home when we see the kids, grandkids, family, and friends which is what makes this our home.

Sunset in Boston

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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