Athletic Prowess Recognition Day

Not for me, those days are so far behind as to question reality. No; today is the birthday of the Absolute Best Family Athlete, the incomparable ABFA. We had the opportunity to celebrate with her last weekend but her actual day of birth is today and it’s also the First Friday of the Week, so a big win win. She’s called the ABFA (not only) because to poke fun at my Favorite Son but because she is a great athlete in her own right. She still plays on a soccer team and in her miniscule free time, coaches youth soccer (4-year-olds - YIKES!)

The Birthday Girl!!!!

She is one of the most genuinely nice people I’ve ever met. She possesses that rare quality to connect with anyone she meets. She is a fabulous mom with two very challenging and completely lovable daughters. She’s also the perfect foil to my sometimes overly serious son. They make a great pair and have created a truly loving family that I’m so happy my two youngest granddaughters get to grow up in. The ABFA is also a dedicated lover of the canine species which will always go in along way in my book.

My Very Lucky Son

She Also Attended a Very Prestigious School

Riggins is also a Very Lucky Boy

While her picture would appear next to the definition of “nice” in the dictionary there is some iron beneath that surface, requisite in any good mom. An indication of that and her strength of intellect is her rapid rise through the ranks of her company at the same time she produced the two aforementioned granddaughters. Finally, she’s just fun to be around and I consider myself blessed that my son found this treasure and was smart enough to marry her. I know my daughter is also happy she finally has a sister, something of a lifelong grudge she had against her brother. So happy birthday ABFA and thanks for being who you are!

Two movies fell in my A-Z effort, both keepers, Braveheart (great memory of seeing this with my son when it came out) and Brick Mansions (released after Paul Walker’s death, some French guy parkouring around Detroit – am now deeply in love with Catalina Denis)

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RECURRING CHARACTERS:                                     

ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete - my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; 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; Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Soxfather - my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course