And One for All

We had a Musquetera weekend as the Maine Musquetera and her husband joined us for a very fun three days. My Favorite Panamanian and the other two Musqueteras are sisters of the heart who bonded as young Spanish speaking immigrants in 1985 Virginia. They’ve stayed in touch over the years and whenever they get together, you can count on a couple things. Long, laugh-filled conversations and shopping. They showed up on Friday evening in time for pizza and immediately set about catching up. Her husband and I knew what was in store and set about amusing ourselves while the wives descended into almost breathless conversation.

Musqueteras Together Again

They put together a plan for a full Saturday, involving, you guessed it, shopping. They took off just after breakfast after I reluctantly showed my Favorite Panamanian how to enter her favorite hunting spots into the GPS. My Maine counterpart and I were told to meet them for dinner at a restaurant near the movie theater precisely at 4:30pm. I arrived a whole minute late and then checked their location. They were still more than twenty minutes away. Timeliness is not a native trait for either of these ladies. The restaurant wouldn’t seat us until the entire party was present so we spent some time wandering around a nearby book store (never a bad alternative). They eventually arrived and my wife confessed to being the culprit. Luckily the movie had multiple showings, so we were able to have dinner and then hit a later show.

Our Late Saturday Dinner

Sunday, after church, they set out again. My Favorite Panamanian had been pestering me all weekend to let her drive the new car and I ran out of excuses, so off they went. The guys watched another Red Sox meltdown while the ladies shopped. I received a frantic call from my wife where she admitted she’d left the house without her license and her credit cards. She’d didn’t appreciate my laughter upon hearing this. I’d like to report this saved some money but it just meant a return to the house to pick up the forgotten items and returning to complete the purchases the cashiers were holding for her. Shortly before leaving for Maine the ladies connected via phone with the Virginia Musquetera. I asked them why they weren’t using Facetime and she said she was walking around her house without any clothes on. I immediately perked up and said that was a poor reason to lose seeing her friends’ faces and “promised” not to look. They all laughed while roundly dismissing my opinion. It was good to see my Favorite Panamanian so happy as she always is when she’s in the company of one of the Musqueteras. A good weekend.

The film we saw was F1 – the Movie. I wasn’t planning on seeing this because I am about as far from being a car racing fan as is humanly possible. However, I am married and when my wife heard Brad Pitt was in it, we were seeing the movie. I turned out really liking it. The filmmakers use cutting edge technology to put you right in the insanely fast cars as they careen around various tracks. Pitt was, well, Pitt, which pleased the ladies but also added his cool, laid back personae which was perfect for his part as a much older driver brought in to save a failing F1 racing team. His character had an interesting arc and I always like to see those with pretensions of superiority get hoisted up by their nether regions. This is one of those movies you have to see on the biggest screen available as I’m betting it will lose a lot of its visceral impact on a television. Good flick.

Six movies fell in the A-Z watch, all keepers: Kraven the Hunter (last of the son’s father’s day gifts and new addition to the library), not as good as in the theater, with wonky CGI but great action; Priest – warlike priests against vampires along with Maggie Q; Princess Bride – may be the best love story movie ever made, flawless; Prince of Persia – still trying to figure out why Gyllenhaal needed to speak with a British accent but acceptable action; Project Almanac – of course a high school prodigy would use his time machine to win the hot girl; and Project X – apologetically like this story of a massive party that gets wildly out of control.

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