No. The title does not reflect any
geo-political event (although there’s plenty of that going on). It refers to reuniting
with our beloved next-door neighbors from Charlton. Upon retiring from the Army,
our first home was in Charlton and the realtor who sold us the house, and his
family lived right next to us. Over the ensuing ten years we formed close bonds
with his wife, her mother, and their three awesome kids. We moved to Worcester
in 2015 and lost touch with them. She reached out last year to have us over for
dinner, but my Favorite Panamanian came down sick forcing to cancel. We were
planning our first Deckzilla party of the summer to celebrate the first
non-rainy Saturday since our return from Panama and on a whim, I reached out and
invited them and the reunion happened.
 |
| Together Again!! |
We immediately played catch up one where
all our respective kids were. I was a little stunned (though I shouldn’t be)
that their two oldest kids are now in their twenties and pursuing careers while
their youngest, born just before we moved into Charlton, will soon celebrate
his 20
th birthday. Tempus fugit, way too fast. It was a true
highlight of a very memorable night on Deckzilla to have these old friends
share in the fun. They remembered our parties back in Charlton and seamlessly fit
in with our party crowd, based on the Worcester Chapter of the Panamanian Mafia.
 |
| Deckzilla Time |
The crowd gathered shortly after four in
the afternoon as Deckzilla slid into the welcome afternoon shade. Everyone
showed up with delicacies which combined with my wife’s usual culinary
offerings created a truly eclectic but delicious dinner table. This marked a
return to Deckzilla parties that we mostly missed out on last year when my wife’s
knee was a problem. That got fixed and we were back in operation. Our current next
door neighbor (from Syria) was introduced to some potent mojitos conjured up by
another of our friends from India. The results were predictably comical, although
I’m not sure his wife was extremely happy with his transformation. After dinner
my Favorite Panamanian’s forays into YouTube party game videos was once again
revealed. She had us play a couple games involving those ubiquitous red cups.
One involved tossing the cups over a
stair from a line with each contestant starting from the opposing end of the line.
This was extremely taxing and a challenge for balance for someone who might
have downed a few Coors Lites by that point (not pointing fingers at all). The
next game had the red cups on a table as we walked around listening to the
director’s commands. It was a variation on musical chairs with one less cup than
contestants. It led to some hilarious moments. I had to rule at one point that
a contestant who ended up with most of a cup would stay in the game while the
person who only grabbed a piece of it was eliminated. Our reunited neighbor won
this game. We ended the games with our old reliable, Left-Right-Center, where
my nearing a record level of futility continued. I lost as I always have when
playing this game, but it was the usual hysterically funny process. The Neighborhood
Mafioso walked away as the winner for the first time in nearly twenty years of
playing the game; so maybe there’s hope for me yet.
 |
| Game Time |
Since Panamanians were involved, you had
to know that dancing would break out at some point. Deckzilla provided a perfect
venue as my Favorite Panamanian once again returned to her first love –
dancing. I was once more hanging on for the ride as the group danced into the night.
At one point Panamanian folk music started playing and my wife led the ladies
in the folkloric dance moves. It was so good seeing her back in her “happy
place”. The party continued until well after ten and petered out when we
started to worry about keeping the neighbors awake. I’ve written before about
how blessed I am in life with the group of friends we have here in the
Worcester area. Another chapter in that saga was written last night and I find
myself basking in the afterglow today, remembering those great friends and reuniting
with the lost neighbors.
 |
| Let the Dancing Start |
 |
| Bring on the Dancing Girls! |
Three movies fell in the A-Z watch, all
keepers and new additions to the library due to my son’s Father’s Day generosity:
Gladiator II – amazing sequel that kept the story rolling along with better CGI,
sharks in the Colosseum!; Venom The Last Dance – the usual combination of
hilarity and carnage; Red One – loved this Christmas movie with the Rock type
cast as a Christmas elf, better on second time seeing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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