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| Thunder Run Gang |
These times I’m abandoned by my Favorite
Panamanian I usually look around for something to keep me occupied. I may have
just about overdone it this past weekend. Since it was way too cold and the
yard is still buried under a couple feet of snow I decided one of my patented thunder
runs back to my home town was called for. Keene Friend graciously agreed to
host despite being assigned caretaker duties for two rat sized “dogs” of another
friend. We figured we’d be up against some serious crowds with St Patty’s Day celebrants
along with March Madness in full swing but we walked into our favorite sports bar
and had the place virtually to ourselves.
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| Pub Crawlers Behind us |
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| Last of the Green Beer |
We later learned that the local
college was on spring break which explained the dearth of novice population.
Over the course of the afternoon a couple parties of St Patty Pub Crawlers
traveled through lending color and enthusiasm. The very best part of the day was
the assembly of friends who made time to hang with us. We were joined in short
order by the Cantankerous Friend, my best friend from kindergarten, Keene Friend
2 and his wife as well as several others. The green beer was consumed in
suitably mass quantities as we convened to solve the world’s problems and
occasionally check in on the basketball games liberally televised around the room.
We singled Keene Friend 2 out for being seriously married as he showed up in
matching sweaters with his new bride.
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| Keene Friend 2 and the Mrs. With their Matching Sweaters |
I believe when you’re still young (something
I obviously cannot be accused of) you take the assembly of friends and times
like these for granted. Now that I’ve reached the august number of years I’ve accumulated
I really treasure and truly appreciate these times with lifelong friends back
in my hometown. There’s a bonding that growing up together indelibly marks you
with. It’s the same type of feeling you have with cousins. I need no further
evidence of why it is important to get together in that part of our
conversation that afternoon involved two high school classmates who seriously dated
for most of high school and who both passed away in the past couple weeks. Time
can be such a bitch.
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| Being Measured by the BRS |
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| 3 Generations |
I arose Sunday morning only mildly
worse for the wear. I’ve got to stop eating spicy chicken wings late into these
thunder runs. After a stately breakfast at Timoleon’s, a downtown Keene
landmark, I trekked across the state to see my newest granddaughter, the BRS. I
was greeted by a very enthusiastic Riggins who didn’t appear ready to relinquish
his role as the biggest attraction at the house. My Favorite Son was on BRS
duty following a feeding and the BRS was in what has become her signature grumpy
mood. She was looking at her father with a certain amount of disdain as he
tried to coax a burp out of her.
I was struck by how much bigger she
seemed, forgetting that happens at this age. She can now focus a lot better and
I was administered one of her piercing judgmental looks as I held her for the first
time since she was only a few days old. The ABFA reported the BRS seems a lot
crankier than some of the peer babies which I interpreted to mean that she’ll
have a lot of personality, something of a trend with my granddaughters. I
showed up with some whoopee pies and a fruit plate, knowing my audience and
hitting both ends of the food spectrum, health wise. I only spent a few hours there
since the parents were as decisively engaged as most new parents are and I had
the usual full gamut of responsibilities back home to get ready for the work
week.
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| New Buddies |
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| They Both like to Nap |
I did get a full report from my Favorite
Panamanian who called from our beachfront condo extolling how warm the water
was. I wasn’t ready to hear that but I was glad at least one of us was down
there enjoying paradise. I also received some very good news from New Jersey
where both of the sick ladies were fully back on their feet and in the case of
the FBR, dancing. It was so good to see both her and her mother clear eyed and
having totally vanquished the nasty colds that were dealing with last week. Wingman
also looked entirely relieved to have finished up his resident nurse duties.
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