Panamanian Link up Times

I added yet another chapter in the marital journey I’ve taken struggling with Panamanian untimeliness. Tuesday is usually date night for my Favorite Panamanian and I were where we usually take in a movie. Yesterday my wife and her mom were going to do some shopping in the shopping center where the movie theater is located. Since Keene Friend is now semi-retired like certain blog writers I am acquainted with, I invited hm along. Before my wife left on her shopping foray I told her she had to be at the movie theater no later than 4:15pm as the movie started at 4:20. I emphasized the point that didn’t mean to start thinking about moving to the theater at that time but to be walking in the door. She assured me she would not fail. I think we all know where this is headed.

Post Movie Dinner with Keene Friend and Mom in Law 

Keene Friend and I arrived shortly before the appointed time and bought the tickets and snacks. I thought this would be easy since we were literally two minutes from where she had to travel from. 4:15, of course, came and went and despite my increasingly urgent texts I had no sign of her. Over the nearly forty years of our marriage, I’ve come to minimally tolerate her lack of timeliness despite the sacred nature of same the military spent a lot of time beating into me over nearly thirty years. They weren’t going to delay the movie for her though. I love seeing the previews, especially now, because, due to the pandemic, October is new cinematic May with a lot of blockbusters coming up. She eventually deigned to answer the phone and told me she was on her way and why was I texting her so often, it was now 4:22pm. I told her to look at her watch which ended the conversation. The final indignity imposed was her choice of arrival mode. She parked her car on the upper level and walked down to the theater. This added another five minutes to her arrival time since my nearly 90-year-old mother-in-law is not exactly an Olympic class sprinter at this point. She wandered into the theater at 4:31pm without a care in the world. I’m glad I was required to wear a face mask at this point because if she could have see my expression that would have started an argument, further delaying getting to our seats. We caught the tail end of the last preview but the movie was really good which calmed by military trained timeliness mores to mellow out enough to enjoy it, see review below.

You See, All Was Forgiven

After the movie Keene Friend treated us all to dinner at a nearby steak house. We ended up waiting another fifteen minutes for the ladies to arrive since they had one last purchase to make at the mall. I’m glad I had Keene Friend throughout my “ordeal” which kept my sanity relatively intact ( as much as ever I hasten to add). It turned out be a really great date night and my Favorite Panamanian’s complete lack of concern for the appointed hour was forgotten. Almost. I caught a story in the local paper last week that I almost glossed over until I noticed the name of the surgeon who performed my prostate surgery, almost a complete year ago. I wrote at the time that I was fortunate that technology had progressed to the point that everything was done robotically, something a former cadet I trained now sold. Well, it seems in the past year technology has taken another leap forward with another generation of robot now available. This one is more precise and only required two small incisions versus the three I had. I’m glad I didn’t’ wait for that advance but it was cool to see it on the front page. The ABFA posted some more pictures from their Storyland adventures this past weekend – look like a great time was had by all.

Current State of Street

I wasn’t sure what to think about Copland before seeing the movie. I went to see it mainly because it starred Gerard Butler and Frank Grillo who are reliable action stars. I wasn’t prepared for a complete unknown (to me) to steal every scene she was in, including from the two main stars. Alexis Louder was the only remotely redeemable character in the entire movie. She plays a young African American sheriff’s deputy in rural Nevada. She arrests a mysterious, wounded man who punches her (Grillo) which sets off a serious assault on her isolated police department. Butler shows up as an infamous hitman sent to off Grillo before he can talk. They are soon besieged by an array of competing hitman and dirty cops. The banter, especially between Butler and Grillo, is worth the price of admission. Butler has the best lines, including, “Now that’s a psychopath”, when competing (and hilarious unhinged) hitman Toby Huss shows up. Again though, Louder more than holds her own against the heavyweights and you can’t help but rooting for her to survive against long odds. So, a real surprise and one of the better movies I’ve seen in a while.

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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; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course; 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; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; 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; 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