Tropical Family Reunioning

Yesterday saw the big event of the trip down here to Panama – my wife’s family reunion.  We started out the day with a trip to the local airport to pick up my daughter and son in law who flew into Panama City on Saturday night.  They caught a local airline flight to Chiriquí which only took a half hour; much preferable to the eight hour marathon I experienced on the road.   My son in law immediately bragged about scoring the first Atlas beer of the vacation – something of a coup between him and me.

Blogging With Son in Law and Daughter In Attendance

A return to my wife’s parent’s home saw more and more family members showing up in anticipation of the “fiesta”.  I blogged amidst an increasing crowd of laughing and talkative not to mention beloved family characters.  I was given a task completely in line with my innate abilities – a beer run.  My brother in law and I descended on the local grocery store and took no prisoners.

The Party Location

Uncharacteristically everyone was ready on time and a caravan of cars made its way to the party location, a large family compound on the InterAmerican Highway about fifteen minutes from my wife’s parent’s home.  The party started immediately with people showing up constantly for the first hour until we had north of forty people vying for air time. 

A Quick Family Photo

One cousin set up as a DJ and was blasting music as most of the family gathered under a beautiful tree with some sort of purple flower which coated the ground.  It was in a word – very tropical.  The cousin who is designing out future house was there and my wife began peppering him with questions and assorted guidance.  I contributed by accidently spilling my wife’s drink all over her lap (and this was only three Atlases into the afternoon).  She took my gaffe in good spirit and I hosed her down out back to remove most of the evidence.

Just Kept Getting Bigger

There was an immense amount of food prepared as the fiesta moved into its next phase which came perilously close to kickoff time for the Patriots’ game.  My wife was dutifully instructed to remove her Tom Brady uniform since she wore that when the Pats lost their last Super Bowl.  A bunch of the Panamanians joined us to watch the game although I’m not sure many understood exactly what was happening (a lot like the Patriots defense).

Watching the Patriot's Game

I’m not sure how but that evil genius Peyton Manning somehow figured out how to switch brains with Brady because they resembled caricatures of each other.  Manning calmly dismantling the gallant but overmatched Patriots defense while Brady missed several wide open receivers.  It was a bit of a downer when they inevitably lost but I was having too much fun with the people I was with to dwell on it.  We took the high road and blamed my wife for not changing shirts in time.  It’s an object lesson that the people you love are a hell of a lot more important than some game played by spoiled millionaires (alright I had a lot of Atlases by that point – but the point is still valid).

Some of the Intricacies of American Football Weren't totally Appreciated

And Others Were Just Angry with the Outcome

After the game the architect cousin walked us through a computer simulation of our future house and I was blown away.  It hardened my commitment to get this thing built in the next year.

The Future House

The party continued throughout the game and after dessert was served and the Patriots were toasted we moved into the inevitable next stage – dancing.  We even got my son in law out on the dance floor for an abbreviated but still newsworthy appearance.  A large supply of long swirling skirts suddenly appeared and all of the Panamanian ladies were dancing the typical folklore dance that is very big in my wife’s family. 

Bring on the Dancing Girls - 4 Generations Worth

At one point they had four different generations of women out on the dance floor gracefully executing the dance – it was almost hypnotic.  My daughter even donned one of the dresses and more than held her own as her Latin blood asserted itself.  I’m surprised she found time to do this as her mother was constantly delivering one of the many infants that populated the party for my daughter to hold.  She’s really going at this grandma thing in typically very unsubtle fashion.

I Had My Favorites in the Crowd

Eventually the party wore itself out and my wife insured we were there to the very end with my daughter and son in law long since departed.  It gave us some time to sit and talk with some of her cousins, including my favorite who has one of the best laughs in the known universe.  I impressed my wife’s family with my facile Spanish which improves greatly when lubricated liberally with Atlas and last night I was especially fluent.  A very good time spent with some extraordinary people.

My Wife and Daughter