St Patty Evolvement

Today is St Patty’s Day and if I was still in college mode, I would probably be napping off the results of showing up at Scorpio’s pub at 6:30am for green beer. This was before I even discovered I am more than 25% Irish. The nap would be required in preparation for the continuation of celebrating St Patty that evening. The photo below captures one of those naps underway. This was with my college girlfriend (first love) and two of my best friends. You’ll note the longer hair in evidence. This was the last time in my life I sported that hairdo as I was in the Army a month later and, you know, they frown on that type of thing. Every St Patty’s Day rolls around, I remember that one as it served as the end of my civilian life, and I was so happy to have spent it with these special people.

Very Fun Dinner Last Night

More than 40 years later I find myself with the beard that college girlfriend wanted me to grow when we first met. I was uniformly unsuccessful at that time. Times have certainly changed as I find myself “celebrating” the day on a tropical beach. That’s not bad but it doesn’t seem very St Patty-like. There was no sunset ceremony last night because we and the Upstairs Neighbors were invited to a birthday celebration in town by the Canadian down the beach. That was a lot of fun although the Upstairs Neighbor ended up walking a lot more than she should have. She didn’t count on the effectiveness of a Panamanian planning cycle (or lack thereof).

Late Morning March 17, 1978

We were giving them a ride into town so she set out down the road to get her steps in, figuring we would pick her up before she got too far. Here‘s where the planning asserted itself. After she had departed my Favorite Panamanian received a call from our Canadian hosts who said they wanted to gather at their beach house before setting out. This evolved to a short social time in their rancho on the beach. Her husband looked more and more nervous, and we finally set out to catch up with his wife as she reached the beach resort; a good two miles + down the beach. I don’t think she was extraordinarily pleased. Just guessing here. She did get her steps in though.

It was a very fun evening as I found myself dining with a Canadian for the second time this week. Once with his brother in Medellin and then with him last night. The birthday celebration was for some visiting friends of the Canadian’s Panamanian wife. They were great sports and one, an older guy, was a real character. He’d played a joke on the two ladies saying they were going to a wedding, so they prepared long, formal dresses, only to learn after they left home that it was a joke. I don’t think I would have survived in similar circumstances but they were able to laugh about it. There was a lot of that last night, including another visit by Chow Mein the cat. I still missed the sunset ceremony but if it had to be missed, at least it was spent with excellent people; very much like a St Patty’s Day celebration.  

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 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; 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