Arrivals

Last evening contained a dizzying array of arrivals, all of them more than welcome. Our first task was journeying into Boston to retrieve my mother in law who’s visiting us for the next month plus. This entailed getting her daughter, my Favorite Panamanian, to combat her cultural norm when it came to timeliness. I finally use the trump card and said if we don’t get in the car soon your mother will exit the gate and not have anyone there. That achieved the desired result and unexpected zero traffic made the trip flawless. We arrived with twenty minutes to spare which was fortunate since my mother in law’s plane was fifteen minutes early.

Target Acquired

We spent the next half hour waiting in the arrivals area. There a scene from one of my favorite movies, Love Actually, that talks about the very human displays of love visible at the international arrival area of an airport. That is certainly true as reunions are non-stop with people exited the door to the waiting throngs. There was even a large troop of some sort of youth group. They were all wearing Cub Scout like blue uniforms, complete with neck scarfs but they were obviously too old to be cub scouts, despite my wife’s opinion to the contrary. I think they were some sort of church group. They were gathered in a loose formation as their chaperones attempted to keep track of them (we’re talking teenagers here) and masked a good portion of the arrival area, so much so I was concerned we might not see the one passenger we were waiting for. I mentioned this to my wife and her phone rang ten seconds later. It was her mother calling from the wheelchair attendant’s phone. She was literally twenty feet away from us but invisible through the cloud of blue clad teenagers.

Grandson Reunion

After an Arachnid Surprise

We returned home to find my Favorite Son’s car parked in the driveway. My Mother in law was so happy to see her grandson but had to fight a scary moment when she walked in. The FBR had left her toy spider with us and we had it out so we could get it back to her. It had become part of the scenery for us but the newly arrived mother in law thought it was real. In Panama having a large creature such as this surprise you would not be unheard of but it gave us a good laugh after she calmed down. My son drove down after a long day at work enroute to Long Island. The BRS and the ABFA were already down there where they’ll be spending the weekend in the Hamptons (just had to say it that way). One of the ABFA’s relatives has a place there and is hosting my son’ family. He was exhausted after a long day at work but we still had some fun catching up. He showed me this video which captured the BRS’ dinner performance a couple days ago. She just started laughing almost uncontrollably. There is something almost medicinal about a laughing baby – so enjoy.

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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; 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 involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); 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 Latino 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; Deckzilla Dude – senior citizen carpenter/contractor; 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