Table Motioned

I thought a family tradition died last night. One of the very few good things to come out of 2020 and the Covid pandemic was the Family First Friday FaceTime call. This replaced the First Friday time at the bar, which were, of course, all closed. I’ve noticed the waning of attendance as the granddaughters have gotten older, but they were never the focus as I truly enjoyed the times speaking with my son, daughter, Sister, Wingman, and the ABFA. Yesterday my son was too busy to participate and after a brief drive by with the FBR, she had to sign off to appropriately hostess a movie night with some her friends. Great Aunt was late, so after a couple minutes, it was just me and my Coors Lite on the call. Great Aunt did eventually log on and was followed in short order by my daughter who snuck away from the movie night festivities. When I mentioned it might be time to pull the plug on the Friday calls, they both vociferously disagreed. Apparently they look forward to them as much as I do. The calls will continue.

The Call Last Night, so Much Fun

The first-floor redecoration project (of my Favorite Panamanian, of course) took a huge step forward today with the acquisition of a new table. The current table is too small for the entire family at Christmas breakfast, so needed replacing. I guess. She and the Neighborhood Mafioso are always dangerous when they disappear into the sopping nether world. That happened yesterday afternoon as they set out in search of the elusive curtain rods. I failed to mention that my wife failed to find them during the thunder run to Keene. That didn’t curtail additional shopping though while we were there. We do have time with granddaughters coming up, always a source of motivation when it comes to acquisitionary behavior from their abuela. At any rate, they found the curtain rods (I knew you were worried), although to get the four we needed, required trips to three different stores. That’s the cool thing about living around Worcester, there are so many stores in the surrounding communities that they check inventories of sister stores and send them on their way.

The New Table

There so many stores that the ladies, in their search, came across the aforementioned table which they proclaimed was a perfect replacement for the existing glass topped table next to the kitchen. The kicker was delivered when I asked when it was going to be delivered. She answered by asking me when I could go get it; the store doesn’t deliver. The glass top for the table is huge and my track record with breakable items isn’t strong. My Favorite Panamanian is well aware of that well-earned reputation so she was a more than a little nervous. They drafted the friend of the Mafisoso’s daughter to volunteer to help with his truck. I brought a lot of cushions and quilts for the glass and got it into the house without breaking anything although it was a bona fide workout. A true victory.

Five movies fell in my A-Z watch, four keepers, Expendables 3, weakest of the bunch, tried to do too much and at PG-13; Extraordinary Measures, more of a TV movie, not worth keeping; FaceOff, sublimely ridiculous, over the top action; Fall of the Roman Empire, a true epic, a bad movie but keeping for Sophia; and Fantastic 4, Jessica Alba and Chris Evans in his first go round as a superhero.

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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; CRC - Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during him 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; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; 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