Mother of a Weekend

I believe I accomplished my mission this weekend to properly honor the moms in my life. The lone exception was my daughter who couldn’t make it up to New England this year. We certainly missed her, but reports suggest Wingman stepped up with a hotel stay in the local area. Returning to New England, my son and his family arrived on Saturday to help celebrate Mother’s Day on Sunday. The BRS and BR3 quickly reestablished control over my Favorite Panamanian’s fabulously extravagant shoe collection. At least this let us know where they were in the house as the clicking of high heels in small feet on hard wood floors resounded throughout the weekend. My Man Cave office suffered its usual fate of being transformed into some sort of amusement park as the granddaughters moved their entire collection of toys in.

The Great Moms we Honored Yesterday

We were determined to show my Favorite Panamanian and the ABFA their proper due by letting them sleep in on Mother’s Day which meant a very early wake up for my son as his daughters decided 5:30am was as long as they could be contained. I gained at least an hour more as he successfully corralled them downstairs. We were both on tap to prepare breakfast for the moms. We also had to feed the granddaughters which offered a challenge. The granddaughters demanded hojaldras which prior efforts by my son and I were complete failures as we could never get the proper thin stretch in the dough. The BRS (known in the family as the Hojaldra Queen for her prodigious consumption of same) rode to the rescue. She’d been an attentive student of her abuela and expertly prepared the dough for the ham-handed guys (that would be my son and I).

The Hojaldra Queen Prepping her Breakfast

Son on Breakfast Duty

The ladies eventually came downstairs and received their enthusiastic welcome. They graciously complimented my son and I on the breakfast we prepared and the cards they received. I used to serve the breakfast in bed but eventually realized the moms preferred the sit down version, especially with two energetic young ones flitting about. My son provided his mother with a cherished gift by agreeing to attend church with us. This made two weekends in a  row for the granddaughters and they were looking forward to the children’s liturgy where they escape the mass to go downstairs and color. In a very funny turn of events, BR3 was chosen to carry the book for the group as they departed the main church. She was told to hold it high and she almost fell over backwards with her effort. I thought it was funny to have this acknowledged agent of chaos in charge of the holy book. My son and the ABFA were laughing as they saw BR3 lead the kids out of church, too funny (but you had to be there to fully appreciate).

The Furiously Blushing BR3 Holding up the Book

After mass, we launched into the big event of the day where the ABFA’s more than excellent parents and Great Aunt joined us. After such a soggy week we had a fabulous spring day which allowed us to hang out on Deckzilla. My son and I didn’t do much of the hanging though as we were faced with responsibilities for Mother’s Day dinner. I prepared my signature Sweet Potato dish overladen with an ABFA level of marshmallows while my son prepared the rice. We weren’t going to chance that our culinary abilities were up to the challenge of properly celebrating the ladies so I’d arranged for the main course to be provided by Longhorn Steakhouse. My Favorite Panamanian loves their steak tips. I was surprised how easy it was to arrange and then pick up the meal, which was greeted with a lot of enthusiasm by the honored moms (probably happy they weren’t be forced to eat our cooking).

Abuela Getting her Cards at Breakfast

Ands the ABFA

BRS Created Card

The best part of the day was sitting around the table enjoying each other’s company. I wrote above about honoring the moms in my life and as I sat there looking around the table, I realized how blessed I (and certainly their children) were to have these maternal figures. My Favorite Panamanian, the ABFA, the ABFA’s Mom, and the incomparable Great Aunt, these are ladies of legerdemain, true quality. I also made an adjustment in my approach this year. I had always forbidden my wife from doing any work in prior Mother’s Days but came to realize she revels in taking a role in organizing these type events (translation – supervising me). It only took me four decades but I finally figured that out and allowed her to assume her usual role instead of sitting on the sidelines.

Ladies During Dinner Prep

Dinner Time

I’m finding one of the most frustrating things about getting old (and they are legion) is getting tired too easily. It had been a busy day, but I shouldn’t have been as tired as I was by late afternoon (even with the resident energy vampires – the granddaughters - on site). While the ladies held forth around the table following dinner, I sat down on the couch to watch the end of the Sox game with my son and promptly fell asleep, yep, getting old. Despite the needed nap, it was a great day where I believe those fabulous ladies were honored, as they so richly deserved

Son and I Yesterday

Four movies fell in the A-Z watch, all keepers: Once Upon a Time in the West, iconic western with Fonda as a bad guy and Claudia Cardinale, Yikes!!!; Open Range, could be Costner’s best film, great team with Duval; Thew Other Woman, silly comedy but Diaz and Mann are hilarious together and then there’s Kate Upton in a bikini, so there’s that; and The Outlaw Josie Wales, might be Eastwood’s best Western, felt bad for the dog though

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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 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