Sand Foot And Departure Decision Matrix

I have, begrudgingly, accepted the fact I may be getting old. That comes with the indignity of groaning (at least in my head) when standing up, as well as the seemingly endless series of muscle strains from doing simple physical acts that were not as dangerous just a few years ago. As I said, I accept it, sort of. In the latest unkindest cut of all, I’ve injured myself boogie boarding. For the past couple weeks, I’ve noticed a twinge in my right foot whenever I walked into the uneven sand on the beach. It’s some sort of tendon that connects the big toe to the back of the foot. I customarily end all my boogie boarding sessions with a big wave for hopefully the best ride of the day. Everything was going (if you’ll excuse the pun) swimmingly on Saturday as the big, final wave showed up. I’d been launching off my other foot because of the aforementioned pain. There wasn’t time to use the off foot since an earlier wave had rocked me out of position. I used the right foot and immediately felt a searing pain.

Saturday Night Dinner Crowd at Natrulamente

I got a really good ride in which was only fair since I’d paid for it with my right foot. The off and on discomfort I’d been experiencing was replaced with every step pain. It was bearable as I walked out of the surf since the sand is hard packed and flat there. That all changes when I reached the soft sand above the tide line. It felt as if someone was poking the foot with a white-hot needle as soon as I hit the soft sand, hence the title of the blog. My Favorite Panamanian, always ready to launch into loosely fact based, medical tirades whenever she detects something wrong with me, was waiting for me, no longer able to mask the foot pain.

Saturday Sunset from Our Table

She was appropriately surprised when I declared I had to stay away from boogie boarding for a few days. She knows how much I love it and that I only have nine viable boogie boarding days left (yes, I’m counting). She realized this wasn’t something minor. In a concession to age I had to abandon the Army inculcated expectation to ignore pain and what it might mean. Great Aunt left a hefty bottle of ibuprofen when she visited which has come in handy. I no longer limp on flat ground but the uneven soft sand is still a problem. I figure I’m two days away from reentering the surf. Fortunately, my Favorite Panamanian is heading back to David to spend a few of our dwindling days in Panama with her mom, so she won’t be around to disagree with my decision.

As those days diminish, I reflect on what I’ll miss and won’t miss with our departure from this tropical paradise. I compiled the lists below and you can see I’ll miss a lot more than I won’t miss, but that is the nature of the place and why I love it down here (during the dry season). That is also why the biggest “won’t miss” is also the most decisive. It’s started raining during the day now and that’s a harbinger of things to come. It brings with it oppressive humidity that’s been absent during the dry season. It’s easy to take daily temps in the high 80s and 90s if there’s an off shore breeze and no humidity. Those factors are almost all gone away now.

Sunday Paintbrush

It would still be bearable though because of the list on the left, most especially the top of that list. Our friends we’ve made here and my wife’s incomparable family are what makes this place for me.  The Seis Amigos make all the difference to life here at the condo. While it was fun before we met them, they’ve added a geometric multiplication to that. The Upstairs Neighbors have become close friends, spending all the time here with us and helping, without having to be asked, whenever needed. Although we never see enough of the Panamanian couple of the Seis, we’ve made the most of their times here, including two of the best condo parties ever this year, the Super Bowl and Easter Weekend. There is a trump card that’s not listed and that’s the distance we’re from our children and the granddaughters. You combine that with the oncoming wet season to soften the blow of our departure.

Miss                                                      Won’t Miss

Friends (Seis Amigos & New Ones)               Oncoming Wet Season

Panamanian Family                                        Distance to Movie Theater

Hearing waves from bedroom                        David Traffic

Sunset Ceremony                                           Daily Power Outages

Boogie Boarding                                             Bugs

Beach Reading                                               Broken Elevator

Thongs                                                           

Morning Workout Solitude

Hosting Visiting Family/Friends

Las Lajas Surf

View from our Condo

Panamanian people

Barefoot For Days on End

BRS with Last Week's Snowman

We completed our hosting of our last group of visitors yesterday when the PanaGal and the Refugee from the Worcester Chapter of the Panamanian Mafia departed after a very fun weekend. The Upstairs Neighbors arranged a Saturday dinner at an exclusive Las Lajas restaurant, Natrulamente, where we met some new friends as well, an American couple from down the beach. The food was excellent, the owner served as our waitress and it was a cosmopolitan experience as she spoke four different languages to the different dining groups. I think she’s Swiss so that’s kind of expected. We had to forego the sunset ceremony at the beach but was offered a spectacular alternative from our outdoor table. We returned to the condo where the ladies started conversing that lasted well into the wee hours of Sunday morning. We ended Sunday back on the beach where we thought the rainy season had robbed us of another sunset after the sun disappeared behind a hefty cloud bank. We were about to give up when the Big Guy assuaged our disappointment by pulling out his paint brush and delivering some truly remarkable colors in the many clouds.

BR3 on her First Big Girl Bike

And Happy About It

The granddaughters and necessarily, their parents, have been busy back in the States. A spring snowstorm descended on New England (much to the consternation of a certain Panamanian) which allowed the New Hampshire granddaughters to construct a spring snowman. It appeared to be gone a couple days later when BR3 was out riding her big sister’s bike for the first time. I can’t believe she’ll be four in a few weeks. These granddaughters need to slow their role in how fast they’re growing up. I know I’m helpless to slow it as my similar efforts with their parents failed miserably. Wingman had a big weekend in New Jersey as he hosted a games event with his business partner. Wingman was working on this as far back as his visit here with us and it looked like he got a great turnout for the new business he’s hoping to grow.

Wingman When he was FBR's Age

Yesterday's Event

Good Turnout

I was surprised watching Knox Goes Away. I shouldn’t have been because I’ve always been a big fan of Michael Keaton who directs as well as acts in this. He delivers as a hit man learning he has rapid onset dementia when his estranged son comes to him for assistance. There were so many layers to this and the scenes with Keaton and Pacino were worthwhile in their own to watch two masters at work. I loved the script as well as the tension mounting throughout the movie as Keaton’s character has to dodge the police and several other dangers as well as his deteriorating mental state. One of the best movies I’ve seen in a while. Loved it.

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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