Filial Extraction Missions

I Got to Spend the Afternoon With These Two Stunning Women

Yesterday was one of those days that I used to dread like the plague – the day before Thanksgiving.  The worst driving day of the year as families choked the roads traveling home.  During my military career this usually meant an all-day torture session dealing with hour after hour of pain.  Yesterday I had to wade back into the traffic morass that is Connecticut which is terrible even on a normal day, much less the dreaded day before turkey day.  I was picking up my daughter in New Haven and then heading up to the Hartford Airport to pick up her husband who was travelling in from his tour in the mid-west.

My daughter got off work at noon and we decided she should get to New Haven via train from New York City as soon as possible before the traffic built up.  My wife and I drove down through thickening traffic but arrived in plenty of time to get her.  There was a frantic edge to people as all seemed to realize the penalty if stuck on the roads much later. We made our way north of Hartford without any issue and had nearly four hours to kill before meeting the plane.

My daughter, ever resourceful, had pinpointed a nearby cinema and we decided to see The Life of Pi after a quick lunch.  This was convenient because the theater was in a mall that had a Ruby Tuesday’s right across from the theater.  Since we had a little time before the movie started, we were in a mall, and my wife was with us –she did what came natural – she went shopping.  A pair of leopard spotted shoes later (Merry Christmas 2017 gift) we settled in for the movie.

I wasn’t sure about this film going in but boy was I wrong.  This was a truly fantastic voyage as we shared the desperate survival of an Indian boy shipwrecked in a lifeboat with a full sized Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.  I liked the definitely foreign flavor of the story telling which was still effective and the sly humor injected throughout made the pain the boy was going through tolerable.  A really great movie experience with stunning special effects.

We finally made the pickup of my son in law (one very happy daughter) and now faced the task of escaping Connecticut.  I decided to head back home cross country using some back roads hoping to avoid the inter-state parking lot that I-84 normally is on this day.  My daughter was checking on her I-Phone and said Google was saying 84 looked clear.  It turned out my back roads were faster and even cut the corner to get us to 84 so we were sitting in Zorbas eating pizza less than an hour later.

It was kind of a spooky end because we were literally the only customers in the usually bustling place.  That was okay because I was with the people I love most in the world with a few notables missing but it was still a great day, especially given the trepidations going in.  Now its on to New Hampshire for my second favorite day of the year!

Hunting Down the Elusive Leopard Skinned Shoes

Go See It

Frantic Loading of Car at Airport

One Very Happy Daughter in a Deserted Zorbas