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| FBR with Great Aunt and Soxfather |
I usually celebrate Fridays as well as
anyone in recent memory. I feel it is my sacred duty to properly recognize the
coming of the First Friday of each week. I’m a little circumspect this week because
it marks the end of the week of FBR residence with us. I’ll have to deal with
the impending separation anxiety as well as less enthusiastic welcome homes from
work each day, although the Favorite Panamanian is no slouch in that
department. It hasn’t all been a walk through the roses though.
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| Blueberry Picking |
As with any three year old, the FBR
has definite ideas about her authority levels. She doesn’t feel the need to
follow guidance unless she’s in complete agreement with it. We’ve had a couple epic
battles at lunch where she demonstrates many of the same techniques her mother employed
at the same age to avoid eating when the more entertaining option of playing is
available. She’s every bit as determined as her mother was which made for some
interesting “discussions”.
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| And Eating |
She was out and about yesterday with
her abuela. They spent the morning
picking blueberries but the FBR didn’t really embrace the concept. She ate as
many as she picked. When she finally did have a full pail she dumped it on the
ground so she could find the biggest to eat. They topped off the morning with
lunch at Cracker Barrel. I would have cautioned my wife against this because,
as you know, getting to the restaurant means passing through the store and I
cannot think of a more challenging passage for two dedicated shoppers like my
wife and her newest shopping acolyte, the FBR.
My concerns were well founded as the
full shopping bag that greeted me at home will attest. She scored her costume for
the upcoming Halloween as well. My wife said she had to literally drag the FBR,
kicking and screaming, out of the store. I can empathize because at times I
think that is the only way I’ll get my wife out of a store. Probably why we
rarely (never!) go shopping together.
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| Happy Reunion |
The FBR was in for a real treat at
home as Great Aunt and Soxfather made special trip up to see her. The FBR was
in complete entertainment mode. We moved out on to Deckzilla and when I asked
the FBR to show off her new sparkly sneakers we were commanded to close our
eyes, hold a finger to our lips, and extend the other hand in a thumbs up
position. The reason for this pose, while she retrieved the sneakers, was never
fully explained and I’m sure anybody walking by would think we were a few
bricks short. Soxfather was the only one who maintained the pose while she was
out of sight; probably why he’s considered such a boon companion for the practitioners
of silly games. We threw some steaks on the grill and enjoyed the frivolity of
the FBR in full showbiz mode. She even agreed to a hasty bath so she could see the
Rhode Island pair off before bed time. Soxfather and Great Aunt were chased home
by a vigorous thunderstorm that came out of nowhere.
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| Soxfather Holding the Pose |
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| Soxfather Made a Rookie Mistake and Gave up His Cell Phone to the FBR |
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| I Was Charged with Aerial Chair Rides |
I cannot let these two August days
flow by without recalling the two best weekends ever. Yesterday marked the
tenth anniversary of the best weekend ever #1 when my daughter and Wingman married.
Everything just clicked in and I still cherish the weekend of a house filled
with family and friends celebrating. Five years later my Favorite Son and the
ABFA tied the knot in similar circumstances only back in the memory laden town
of Nashua, NH. Once again a truly epic weekend replete with non-stop fun. I
feel so blessed to have both Wingman and the ABFA as part of the family now and
those two weekends were certainly harbingers of the joy they brought with them
into the lives of my daughter and son. Happy Anniversary to all four!!!!
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| Best Weekends Ever |
The importance of family is a great
segue into the next subject. I’ve written before about the stalwart groups of
brothers and sisters of which my father was the youngest. They defined the “greatest
generation” appellation as well as it could be done. I marked the passing of the
last of this group earlier this year with my 92 year old Aunt Mary passing on.
It would seem next to impossible to add to the group of 24 first cousins that assemblage
of aunts and uncles bestowed upon us but, as I said, this is a pretty remarkable
group.
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| Welcome Aboard #25 |
A few years ago I started to hear
rumors of an out of wedlock son born during the height of WW2 that had been
given up for adoption. Different times and an overly strict grandmother led to an
adoption but we held scant hope of ever finding him although his half-brother,
my closest cousin, never gave up hope. In an astonishing turn of events the ancestry.com
DNA tests several family members, including myself, took turned up an unknown
first cousin up in Canada. He reached out, we reached out and we now have that
25th cousin!! I’ve corresponded
with him and talked with him as well. He will fit into the group seamlessly. I
also sent him a picture of his mother which was the first time he’d ever seen
one. I’m sure it’s the first of many. He was adopted into a loving family in
nearby Leominster and grew up as a true New Englander. Unbeknownst to all of us
he was flitting around the same region the rest of us were while growing up. He
retired to Nova Scotia where his wife is from. I warned him about the group of cousins he was
falling in with and he marveled at what he described as the tsunami of emails
and friends requests. I told him, in complete honesty, “that’s how we roll”. We’re
hoping to get him and his wife down for the family Thanksgiving. Welcome home,
#25, although if we’re going by seniority he’d be much closer to the top.
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| #25 and his Lovely Wife |
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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 3rd 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
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