Taking Breath

Serving as Landing Pad for FBR Launch

To say my life has been on a pair of rocket assisted roller skates over the past couple weeks would be a genuine understatement. It seems like all aspects of my life: personal, family, employment, and even health conspired to see just how much my schedule could hold. Before the Cantankerous One leaps to the attack rightfully labeling these thoughts as “pansy like” and telling me to “toughen up cupcake” I’d like to point out that I have emerged fairly upright.

The BRS - Another Very Happy Granddaughter

I haven’t written here in a while because there has simply been no time whatsoever. This past Friday I successfully concluded negotiations with my employee’s union on a new contract before I went in for hopefully the last surgical event of the year. It was a minor finger thing the dermatologists wanted to cut out and then send for testing. It was near the base of my right index fingernail. The same doctor who did the Mohs surgery last week handled it and it was over pretty quickly.

She Does Have a Devastating Smile

My wife received some kudos for the excellent job she’s been doing bandaging the earlier surgery’s result on my neck. The only thing that hurt during the operation was injecting the painkilling stuff. It turns out there's a fairly robust set of nerve ending near the tip of your right index finger. A cute doctor assisting the surgeon made any reaction to this impossible if I was going to maintain my man card. Why do dermatologists like to cut so much?

Post Surgery Recovery Efforts

We finished that little exercise in plenty of time for me to make my way from the surgical suite to Brew City for the proper celebration of the First Friday of the Week. I liberally interpreted the exit instructions about abstaining from alcohol for three days since it was such a small incision (only four stiches this time). I was doing this in part to establish the proper amount of dedication I’m trying to instill in my management team for First Friday and expected to grab one beer, take a photo to shame non-attendees and then head home. In this I was a “victim” of my own success because I found several of my managers already there.

FBR Greeting her Great-Grandmother on Saturday

My wife and her mother soon joined us as well since Brew City was on the way home from the mall. It turned out to be a lengthy and thoroughly enjoyable time and one that I needed after the past couple weeks. There is truly something medicinal about Friday beer after a tough work week and I should know due to the sheer breadth of my personal investigation into this issue.

Cornshucking Lessons from Grampa

Reading with Abuelas

First Ever Corn on the Cob Serving

My respite was marginal though because Saturday morning, after herding my Panamanian cats into the car and departing a couple hours later than intended, I was driving to New Jersey for the stated intent of acquiring control (such as she allows) of the FBR. My feline partners began to understand my desire to leave earlier than we did when we ran into the inevitable Connecticut slowdowns endemic to a summer Saturday. That was easily overlooked with the joy of arriving in Maplewood and receiving the first of my granddaughter hugs from the FBR.

Showing Abuela Around the Basement

Collectible Lineup

She’s done that whole growing thing since we last saw her and made a point of training us on all of her newest games. I was so glad that she finally paid a little attention to her abuela as well, although my status of rock star in the FBR’s eyes seems undimmed. I was really touched by how concerned she was by the two bandaged areas I was sporting. She was very concerned I couldn’t catch her jumping from the couch without hurting my hand. Each time (of the forty or so times) she’d ask me if I was okay. It was beyond charming.

My daughter and Wingman prepared a fabulous summer dinner out on the deck and I gave corn shucking lessons to the FBR. During dinner she had her first ever corn on the cob which she quickly mastered after some preliminary issues. We adjourned to the basement after dinner to see Wingman’s progress on finishing the room off. He’s installed some rubberized carpeting wall to wall and begun installation of wainscoting to cover the wall disturbed by the flood reduction construction.

Massachusetts Arrival and Swing test

Helping Grampa with the Laundry

The FBR is a big fan of the new room and Wingman plans to dedicate an entire wing of the basement to her as a playroom. Wingman has an extensive collection of collectibles which are worth thousands but he was incapable of resisting the FBR’s pleas to play with them when she discovered them while assisting Wingman with his construction efforts. She gave us the complete low down on all of them and lined the special ones up for us to view.

Booty from Visit with Friends

Since the FBR’s day care was closed for the week we were taking her back with us for the entire week. She now faces forward in her car seat and we had a lot of fun on the trip back home Sunday morning. I was even accused of being silly several times. My Panamanian companions took to heart the traffic instilled lessons of Saturday and were ready to leave promptly on time.

All Ears

So I get to hang out with the FBR all week which is probably exactly what a certain battered soul needed at this point. We walked down to the Neighborhood Mafioso’s house yesterday afternoon and the FBR disappeared with their two granddaughters shortly after we arrived. These two young ladies, both teenagers, bonded with the FBR during a recent visit and took her over to their nearby house to meet their dog. When she finally re-emerged she spouted a new suitcase, stuffed animal, and three decorative sets of ears. She has that way with people.

BRS the other Remedy

We’ve already engaged in serial games of hide and seek and her Deckzilla pool is poised to assist her in battling a late summer heat wave. Since the FBR is in residence it has become customary to have some sort of major house re-modeling project underway so it was appropriate Deckzilla Dude showed up this morning to start demo on our future second master bedroom. I guess life really isn’t slowing down that much but at least I have one  of the two best remedies for battered spirits in residence to help out and the other just a FaceTime call away.

Fun Week Inbound with this Character

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RECURRING CHARACTERS

BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law, formerly known both as MEF – Most Excellent Fiancé & MEG – Most Excellent Girlfriend; Wingman – my son in law; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt = my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got invole din planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rdmusquetera (musketeer); Buddy – AKA the Wonder Pooch – family dog, a black lab – hates squirrels, died in 2017; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog, surrogate grandchild while awaiting arrival of the BRS; PanaGals – female relatives/friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latin friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Excellent Boss – my former direct boss at work; Voices of Inappropriate Worth - members of public who come to every Worcester public meeting to complain, all are on public assistance along with demeanor issues