Panabirthday Celebration

The Birthday Boy Yesterday - 88 Years Young

For those of you who read the blog yesterday, you may have caught the news this morning and seen that the DC area received an inch of snow overnight and traffic was paralyzed. I hate it when I’m right about something like that. Starting Friday they’ll be getting forty or so more inches. I think the operative phrase I’m looking for is “YIKES!” We may not hear from the nation’s capital again until March. Who says that’s a bad thing?

Surrounded by Family and Friends at Lunch

My wife had a very long but ultimately very fulfilling day down in Panama yesterday. It was her father’s 88^th birthday and the whole family went out of their way to make him feel special despite his paternal command not to. The day started out with my wife taking him down to the local social security office so he could draw him monthly retirement stipend. Since there is no functioning mail service people have to go and wait in line for their checks. While my wife is visiting she waits in the line for him while he sits on a nearby bench. Yesterday the wait was two hours. Can you imagine that working here? It provides a startling view as what we take for granted.

My Wife(R) with her Brother's Family

The rest of the day was decidedly more upbeat. My father in law loves returning to the haunts of his youth and visiting friends that still live there. My wife arranged a special birthday lunch with these friends and his family at a small restaurant in his hometown, a twenty minute drive from where they live now. From the descriptions I’ve received it was an outstanding success. Since my wife spends most of the year back here with the necessary supervision I require she relishes the chance to spoil her parents. It’s a true blessing that she still has both parents and she’s able to spend a few months with them each year. It’s something I truly regret about my own parents’ early departures. They were gone much too early in my life.

My Father in Law With His Oldest Friends

And of Course a Birthday Cake

Earlier in the week she took her mother up to the mountain town of Boquete where the annual town fair was going on. There was the usual explosion of flowers and since temperatures dove into the sixties everybody had to bundle up. This is the town we’re renting a house in next month so maybe I should bring my fur lined winter coat.

I received another charming FaceTime call from the First Blog Reader last night. She reported that her mom, the Cali-Daughter, went back to work yesterday. The dreaded balancing of work and motherhood went by without a hitch which was a huge relief. Since she works NYC hours on the West Coast feeding times meshed nicely with the work day. She’s still highly resistant to the bottle, something her grandmother is supposed to fix when they travel to Panama next month. Wingman was also around to perform stalwart househusband taskings throughout the day. I could tell how pleased they were after their first day.

Wife in Boquete

With her Mom, Sister and Niece

Braving the Frigid Temperatures

A Beautiful Collection ...and some flowers

Apparently, despite voluminous evidence to the contrary it’s tough to capture my granddaughter smiling on camera. She smiles all the time but as soon as a camera is pointed at her she clams up. I think it’s something she got from her uncle. The quickest way to get my Favorite Son to stop smiling is to try to get a picture of him. A serious mien is his go to look for photographic rendering.

She Loves Daddy Time