My Favorite Panamanian and I have returned to the 508 area code. I’ve never noticed just how quiet our house is. Compared to the serial cacophony associated with my eldest granddaughter, this is understandable. That noise level was certainly missed as were the nightly hangouts with my daughter and Wingman. We wrapped up our trip in New Jersey over the weekend with Wingman slow walking us through some of the technological advances our new car offers but we were not tech savvy enough to take advantage of. We can now charge our phones by simply laying them down in the center console! Both of my children and their spouse serve as our inhouse IT department, sorely needed, a generational thing.
FBR Covering my Ears So I Don't
Fall Asleep while She Sings a Lullaby
My daughter and I were
called into action in the puzzle department prior to leaving. The FBR directed
that only she could work on a 500 piece puzzle and, as is her wont, she quickly
assembled it only to find I had brought my hometown affliction with me. She was
missing one piece! She was understandably upset especially when the adults were
laughing at my assumed culpability. The puzzle was part of a package of 8 different
puzzles and we assumed the missing piece had ended up in another puzzle’s bag.
The daughter and I assembled the other seven puzzles under the only to find the
missing piece still elusive. My theory at this point is that the cat ate it and
recommended they check the litter box. This was, again, distressful for the FBR
to hear as she once again wondered at adult sanity.
Daughter and I Trying to Find the Missing Piece 
Much Like her Mother FBR Hates to Sleep
This Was Position She Ended up in One Night
While we were doing
this my wife was creating a going away bake for our hosts. She baked up a
double batch of peanut butter blossom cookies. Along with brownies, marble
cake, and whoopie pies these Christmas cookies are the bane of my keto diet as
I am completely unable to resist them. The FBR was very concerned I was going
to eat all of them Saturday night while she slept. Her abuela promised strict
security measures in place to prevent that.
Wife with her Creations 
After Strict Inventory Control
My Role was to Place the Kisses
FBR Did her Part
Licking the Mixer
Departing on Sunday
was difficult and not only because my wife was one of the people I had to get
into the car in a timely manner – not a task for the faint of heart. The FBR
didn’t want to let us go and asked repeatedly if we were going to miss her;
talk about the ability of youngsters to understate! We eventually hit the road,
about two hours after I wanted to, only to turn around as soon as we reached
the interstate when my wife realized she had left her yoga mat and weights
behind. We pulled back into my daughter’s house proclaiming the reports of our
departure had been grossly overstated.
Yes, I really do Miss you! 
Toughest Thing I've Done Lately 
Umprompted, FBR Writing How Old She's Getting
We made great time on
the trip home, arriving in a little less than three hours. I noticed that traffic
was starting to get back to pre-covid levels. Connecticut tried its usual
pranks to delay us but we outfoxed the Nutmeg state by taking the interstates
instead of the usual parkway. I’m sure it will be prepared for that next time.
FBR Acquired her Mother's Phone
And Took These Pictures - Deskmates
Epic Grampa Pose 
Breakfast Abuela 
Silly Grampa 
Still Silly
We arrived home to that
very quiet house which brought the reality of granddaughter-less existence crashing
down. After sorting through the accumulated mail and making a grocery store run
we started to decompress. That was assisted when we realized it was the ABFA’s
mom’s birthday and correctly guessed she was giving herself the best gift of
all – a day spent with our other granddaughters, the BRS and BR3. We called to
sing happy birthday (along with the requisite apology for my singing voice) and
saw the BRS was in seventh heaven hanging with her best friend, my counterpart –
the ABFA’s dad. It made us happy to see this bunch together and my Favorite Son
was almost fully recovered from his hangover following Saturday’s fantasy
football draft with his college buddies.
ABFA's Mom With BR3 
And BRS
Today it’s back to
pandemic routine. Part of the mail I picked up included the preliminary
instructions for the two surgeries I’m facing in September, just because coming
home wasn’t depressing enough. Apparently, ibuprofen is out of my immediate
future. I was getting ready to leave for the pool this morning when we received
a FaceTime call from the FBR. Part of our routine during the stay was to have
her break into our room each morning to wake us up. My daughter said the FBR went
into our vacated room, sat on the bed, and cried. We really enjoyed the call because
my wife and I had just been reminiscing about how much we missed our FBR wake
up calls from the past two weeks. The FBR, ever on point, also asked us if we
had found the missing puzzle piece when we unpacked. I referred her back to the
litter box.
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RECURRING CHARACTERS
BR3 – granddaughter #3, 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; 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; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her
single days in Brooklyn
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