We’ve reached the final countdown day before
my Favorite Panamanian heads west to become a grandmother. These last few days
she’s been feverishly cleaning the house because we have yet another group of Panamanians
coming to visit during her absence. Apparently my reputation for keeping a thoroughly
hygienic house precedes me and does not meet her stringent standards. I’ve even
been given pillow stacking lessons because we all know that’s important. Every
time she doubts the wisdom of allowing friends to visit while I’m in charge of
domestic spotlessness I remind her she’s going to California to meet our first
grandchild – argument – over.
The three week long suitcase packing
drill finally reached its inevitable conclusion last night with the weigh-in. The
suitcases are now sealed and awaiting transportation to the airport on
Saturday. This also means I will now have unfettered access to my closet; the
floor in front of which having served as the chosen staging ground. There’s
been a couple of dark mornings when I almost ended up executing what I’m sure
would have been a graceful swan dive out the nearby picture window when I forgot
about the lurking obstruction.
When she wasn’t cleaning something she
was on the phone with her legion of friends and family ensuring I would be
properly supervised in her absence. I’m amazed that I’m actually being trusted
to get up each morning without the commander in chief to report to. All this is
said in jest. It’s strange but as we’ve gotten older it’s become harder to be separated
from each other despite the fact that it seems to happen more and more. I
assume it’s part of my approaching codger-dom.
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| Roothuggers in Seville |
One of the prices we had to pay with
the First Blog reader’s impending arrival was missing out on the annual
Roothugger Reunion. This year the Roothuggers (fellow Command and Staff College
classmates and their spouses) left the USA altogether and gathered in the
Iberian sub-continent hence they are now known as “Abrazando Raizes”. I’m not
sure the Spaniards and Portuguese are prepared for what they are about to
endure. One tree in particular has already been violated. My thoughts are with
these superb people as they maintain the friendship that is so important to
each of us. While I do wish we could have joined them there’s this whole
grandchild thing which is, in fact, the ultimate trump card.
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| The Aforementioned Tree With its Raizes Being Abrazando |
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