My geographic bachelorhood ended in
rather dramatic fashion on Saturday as my Favorite Panamanian ushered me to her
true “happy place”, the dance floor. She’d been sidelined from that beloved activity
since her knee went hors de combat last summer followed by September surgery.
We’ll get to the dance floor eventually, but I must recount my journey to join
her. The First Friday of Last Week rolled around, as scheduled, which had the stalwart
upstairs neighbors allowing me to join them for pizza night after the obligatory
sunset ceremony. Since they were driving back to David on Saturday morning,
they saved my wife a trip to pick me up. The aforementioned wife forgot to take
our depleted propane tank for the balcony grill so that fell to us.
 |
| Together Again |
She had reconned a PanaGas location on
the highway back to David and we accomplished the refill amidst the surrounding
arcane requirements while taking in the absolute largest grasshopper I’ve ever
seen. It was reposed in the surrounding fence at the gas place and had to be nearly
a foot in length and appeared to be sporting a turtleneck (not kidding). Of
course, I forgot to get a picture of it but I was impressed, it looked vaguely
pre-historic. They dropped me off at my mother in law’s house and I was
reunited with my Favorite Panamanian.
We celebrated by immediately setting out
to do something really romantic, grocery shopping. I’d put a serious dent in our
food supplies during the past week so that was needed. We had a fun dinner at
El Fogón with my favorite waiter/friend Everardo. Fortunately El Fogón was
showing a NFL playoff game so I caught the last quarter of the Kansas City – Houston
game. I must really like my Favorite Panamanian because I only saw one of the
four playoff games this past weekend. Just saying. After dinner my wife and Tia
Loca prepped for the big event of the weekend, the aforementioned dancing.
 |
| Back on the Dance Floor |
 |
| Very Fun Group |
 |
| The Sangria Twins |
My wife’s brother had invited us out to the
iconic Joron Zebeda. He and his lady drove us all to this favorite and immense
dance floor. It was nearly empty when we arrived because it was so early, only
9pm. It’s an inside joke within the family that I am always the one who wants to
leave, usually when the crowd starts to rev up, say around 2am. A small crowd
eventually filtered in as we spent most of the time on the dance floor. It was
really hot, Panama hot. I eventually devised a cooling off technique which involved
placing my cold beer bottle on top of my head when we returned from the dance
floor. They thought it was cute, but effective.
 |
| My Cool Down Technique |
I should mention at this point that my Favorite
Panamanian and Tia Loca were imbibing from a pitcher of sangria. Everybody in
my family knows this is a situation fraught with danger. Sangria seems to have
a magical effect on them. Tia Loca starts speaking fluent English and my
non-drinking wife loses what small geographic sense she has. During a well-chronicled
event over a decade ago in Panama City, she ended up wandering our hotel in the
early morning hours searching for our room, but that is a story for another
day. This time out, they were a lot of fun. Although my wife was singularly
upset with me for not bringing my standard hangover prevention cure, Alka
Selzer, with me.
 |
| Tia Loca and her Brother |
This is led to a very funny event. We
left the dance floor around midnight (truly early for this bunch) and as we
were driving home my Favorite Panamanian said, based on her consumption of sangria,
she needed Alka Selzer. This led to a trip to an all-night pharmacy where she
boldly walked up to the outdoor window and declared she needed Alka Selzer, and
was informed a black Alka Seltzer was available that was specifically designed
for this type requirement (too much intake). The rest of us stayed in the car
and laughed since she is usually a teetotaler. She returned to the car saying she
told the attendant the cure was needed for us. I’m not sure the attendant
bought that story either. When/if she sees I’ve posted these photos I’m probably
on the couch for a couple nights.
 |
| Wife at All Night Pharmacy |
 |
| Scoring her Alka Seltzer |
Before heading back to the beach on
Sunday we were invited for lunch at my brother in law’s lady’s home. That was a
very fun gathering where we once again took up our roles of refereeing the back
and forth between Tia Loca and her brother. Our hostess spent years creating a fantastic
garden complex which we all know my Favorite Panamanian enjoyed touring. I
eventually had to almost drag her out as they compared garden complexes. I was
jonesing to get on the road back to the condo because of the third playoff game
I was destined to miss. On the upside, we got all the groceries stored in time
to join our redoubtable upstairs neighbors for the sunset ceremony. I finally
saw an NFL playoff game that night and it was probably the best of the weekend.
 |
| Sunday Lunch |
Yesterday was an interesting day here at
the beach. My wife contracted last year with a local artisan to build us a bed
frame. That was delivered yesterday with appropriate fanfare. Before he left “we”
decided he should build us a couple bedside tables as well. Fortunately, he and
I teamed up to convince my wife that a round table she envisioned for the dining
room would be too large for the space available. Small victories. The power was
out for a scheduled maintenance period during all this and we had our handyman
in to fix a minor problem with the sliding doors to the balcony he fixed a couple
weeks ago as well. Electricity came back and we were blessed with another
fabulous Las Lajas sunset, with an additional friend in the crew. I was
thinking of Keene Friend 2 last night as his beloved Notre Dame’s epic comeback
in the college national championship game against Ohio State fell short. On the
upside he’s on a retirement vacation himself, not too far from us, in Aruba.
 |
| Last Night's Sunset |
 |
| The Crew |
 |
| Our New Bed |
Finally, apparently my earlier report about
the BRS and BR3 losing all their kiddie makeup privileges was in error. The
ABFA is their latest victim. They told her they wanted her to look like a tiger
and this was the result. They asked my son, “Doesn’t Momma look Beautiful?”. I’m
hoping he was able to achieve the needed level of diplomacy before answering. I
miss seeing those girls. The internet at the condo is the worst it’s ever been,
and all Facetime calls inevitably freeze up. You see, everything isn’t perfect
in paradise.
 |
| Tiger ABFA |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 her single days in Brooklyn; Czech Connection
– Czech couple who’ve become good friends along with their daughter (the Czech
Shadow); 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 3rd 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; Seis Amigos
- two couples from our condo complex and my wife and I; Soxfather – my brother-in-law (whom I miss more than I can ever
explain); Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course
No comments:
Post a Comment