Thirty Six Years

Wife and I Surrounded by Army Buddies 36 Years Ago

That seems like a long time. Anybody who’s reached their sixties (guilty) will tell you it isn’t and can seem to pass in a heartbeat. That’s how long the little Panamanian with incredibly flashing eyes and I have been married, as of today. It seems like yesterday I ran into this beautiful young lady at the Officer’s Club. I soon realized that her diminutive stature was the only thing small about her as she has a heart the size of a mountain which has come in handy since she’s had to deal with me for more than three decades now.

With her Dad

Happier than I Look

So Glad I signed up for this

I’ve told the story many times about meeting her on Friday and proposing two days later. I don’t know what we were thinking! Our families certainly didn’t think it would last. My sister always claimed I wore my heart on my sleeve when it came to relationships but in this case it seems to have worked out. She’s followed me all around the earth in the vagabond life style of a career Army officer’s wife and was always there for me. She also produced two of the most remarkable children who are now embarked on their own journeys as spouses and parents. I think they would each point to this incredible woman, my Favorite Panamanian, as a superb model for both of those roles.

They Could Still Throw Rice back Then

Under Strict Orders not to Smear

Wife's Brother and Sister

That Hairdo! What Were you Thinking!

Good Friends Traveled a Long Way to Support Me

I find it a little extraordinary as we’ve watched the marriages of close friends dissolve over the years that ours is one of the ones still stranding. We started out barely able to communicate with each other and with the not so understated disapproval from both of our families but we made it work. I remember this day thirty six years ago as I wandered into downtown David, Panama in my dress uniform and feeling like I was out of my depth. It wasn’t until I got to the church and saw all my Army buddies that my concerns fell away.

Seeing my future wife walk down the aisle in a hairdo she hated but nothing could quell those remarkable eyes which flashed unremittedly during her entire walk. I knew then I was in the right place. I didn’t understand a lot of the ceremony as the priest spoke way too quickly for my nascent Spanish but my future wife kept me on track. I’d only been a Catholic for a couple weeks. My main memory of the reception was having to sit on a pair of thrones while the party swirled around us. I know my Army buddies had a much better time than I did as young Panamanian gals flocked to them. Thirty-six years ago and it seems like yesterday.

Still Cute - With her New Abuela Sweater

The next generation of flashing eyes was on display last night when we called both of those amazing “kids” and saw the FBR and the BRS. The FBR was having none of her mother’s needed recovery time following the Oscar night party on Sunday night. She declared the need for a dance party and then set out running laps around the first floor demanding parental participation in the run. Luckily Wingman stepped up for my daughter who was summarily ordered out of the way by the BRS while trying to capture these exploits on video.

At Least Someone's Getting Some Sleep

Good Friends Stopping By to Meet the BRS

Similarly, if more sedate, the BRS continues her training of my Favorite Son and the ABFA. The ABFA’s mom was back on station for the grandmother assist role while Riggins looked particularly peeved at his lack of center stage time. The BRS seems to be alternating good nights with sleepless ones (for the mom) but always insuring the bad nights fall on a night before my son has to work. I remember these days all too well and only offered the advice that getting through these early days are more than redeemed, hopefully as well as my son and his sister did for my wife and I.

Talkative Oscars

Daughter Ready for Oscar Night

As I have previously confessed to, I am a dedicated, some would say fanatic, lover of movies. The night of the Academy Awards is therefore akin to the Super Bowl for me. Since my wife has usually flown the coop for warmer climes during the winter I typically watch them by myself. I was therefore heartened that I would have her as my date this time for Oscar night thanks to the timely arrival of the BRS to draw her north. It has been so long I forgot one aspect that always accompanies time with my Favorite Panamanian. She likes to talk. A lot. Usually when I’m trying to hear what is being said on the screen. Luckily the Man Cave with countermeasures as it is fortified with a sound system fully equipped to out-decibel even my wife, dedicated practitioner of the conversational art that she is.

Daughter With Friends at her Party

We touched base with my daughter prior to the start of the ceremony as she was frantically putting the final touches on her annual Oscar party. The FBR tried to throw a monkey wrench into the proceedings by coming down with what her parents thought was a UTI. Just before heading to the urgent care clinic she mounted the bathroom throne and deposited a truly epic (as described to me by Wingman) donation to the porcelain god. It turned out she was only severely constipated and once the dam broke she was fine. Oscar memories!!

Darkest Hour Churchill Cigars

My daughter always prepares a snack menu for her party themed to the different movies up for Best Picture. I’ve included pictures of some of those snacks as well as the menu itself. You’ve probably already figured out that she inherited the movie fanatic gene from her father. She dressed for the occasion and had a nice group of friends over for the broadcast. We checked in with her quickly after the show to compare notes and found she had once again soundly defeated me in the prediction game – 13-8. Another aspect to having my wife at my side is the side commentary every time I was wrong with a prediction, she does pack a lot of spice.

Phantom Thread's Mushrooms on Toast (yech!)

Shape of Water - Hard-boiled Eggs

Dunkirk's Strawberry Jam on Toast Soldier Snack

Get Out Fruit Loops

Lady Bird Communion Wafer School Snack

I liked the ceremony itself despite its usual length. Jimmy Kimmel had some great lines and shticks. There was almost too little of him during the broadcast. I think they should remove the documentary (short and long) and the animated short from the big show as hardly anybody sees those and their acceptance speeches are usually longer than their movies. I thought the show would be consumed with an abundance of activism and #metoo moments and it was but it so well done that the message did not get lost in the telling.

Tiffany Hadish and Maya Rudolf were the best presenters, just funny from start (showing up without their shoes on) to finish. I had no issues with the acting category winners although Gary Oldman’s win seemed like one of those career recognition awards. 3 Billboards won two of those acting awards which were richly deserved and the Shape of Water justifiably won for Best Picture which I thought was cool since it was so out of the ordinary (and sci fi to boot). I wish they could have given out additional awards to Leslie Manville, Woody Harrelson, and Laurie Metcalf but the winners in each of those categories were equally talented.

Friday Dodge

Riggins Keeping an Eye on his Newest Charge

While the rest of the eastern seaboard is reeling from the effects of yesterday’s nor’easter we pretty much dodged any real problems in Worcester. We had a lot of rain and some impressive wind but just a dusting of snow late at night instead of the promise six inches of snow. Just to be absolutely clear – I am not complaining. My daughter reported a complete loss of power down in New Jersey as this was a huge storm.

The First Friday Crew with the Surprise Panamanian

New Partner in Crime

I had a very good week at work welcoming Keene Friend as my new operations manager. One of the things I told him that was fun about working in transit is there’s something new to confront each day. Yesterday he had to field his first death threat against one of the drivers. To his credit he handled the situation perfectly and we adjourned the Brew City to mark his first official First Friday as a member of the team. The biggest surprise was the appearance of my Favorite Panamanian despite the heavy rain falling. Despite growing up in one of the most rain soaked countries on earth my wife is averse to walking outside if even a small amount of rain is falling so yesterday constitute a veritable shock, in a very nice way.

Just like Daddy!

We eventually did connect with my daughter when their power came back on and she was in the middle of preparing for her annual Academy Awards party. She always prepares snacks themed to the best picture nominees and this year provide a wide range of opportunities there. I’m psyched because for the first time in many years I’ll have a date for the Academy Awards show which is right up there with the Super Bowl for a dedicated movie geek such as myself. Since I no longer get a newspaper delivered I even prepared my own ballot to keep score on predictions. My daughter usually kicks my ass in this department. She said the FBR got some play tattoos when they hit the party store. They were Moana themed (still can't get those damned songs out of my head) and she couldn't wait to show them to her well painted father.

Morning Surprise

ABFA and the BRS

For those of you with a dirty mind, no, not that kind. I was consigning my usual breakfast to the hereafter this morning when my wife’s IPad started squirming around. I opened it up and was greeted by the cherubic face of the FBR. She was in the middle of devouring her own breakfast. Since that breakfast consisted of waffles and she recently had her first ever waffle at grandpa and abuela’s house she felt the need to reach out to us. That sentiment might actually have come from her mother, our daughter, but it sings better originating from the granddaughter.

At any rate it was a fabulous way to start a day besieged by some nasty weather as a Nor’easter bears down on the area. The prophets of doom, I mean the local weathermen, have been preaching all week about this dire storm but I’ll take two inches of rain and high winds at this point in the winter. It’s supposed to change over to snow later tonight but six inches of snow is barely above notice with a high March sun to address it afterwards.

The Gang at Val's Last night

Keene Friend’s first week on the job will be celebrated along with the First Friday of the Week this afternoon. His presence continued to pay benefits as he joined us for dinner out last evening with the Neighborhood Mafiosos where he got to compare meatloaf recipes with the Mafiosa (who knew – a new side to Keene Friend- pocket chef!). It was a fun way to celebrate Weekend Eve as we traveled up to Holden to eat at Val’s, which is open on Thursdays and provided their usual sterling service and great food.

Wingman and His Nurse Yesterday

Wingman availed himself of some bad food Wednesday during a trek into New York City and then had to spend all day yesterday hanging out with the FBR while dealing with the fallout. By all accounts the FBR was not fully invested in providing her dad the needed rest and recuperation time although she did claim to be an excellent nurse during our call. Wingman was non-committal in his endorsement of that claim.

The adjustments continue up in Stratham, New Hampshire as the FBR completes her conquest of the new mom and dad. The ABFA reported another successful walk in yesterday’s more agreeable temperatures. My Favorite Son reports that Riggins has abandoned the master bedroom at night as it has to be kept at warmer temperatures with its new resident. Both my son and the ABFA have embraced their new parental roles with their usual steadfast excellence. This surprises absolutely no one that knows them.

I finished reading the book my daughter so kindly sent, Lincoln in the Bardo. The "Bardo" is a term for a state of existence between death and rebirth and yes, I had to look that up. The novel provides a fascinating new way to look at the afterlife. The story revolves around the very real death of Abraham Lincoln's young son Willie during the height of the Civil War. The author skillfully weaves in comments from real life contemporaries of Willie's death along with the imagined comments of the ghosts that surround him in the cemetery. The energizing event is President Lincoln's nocturnal visit to the graveyard to visit his son's tomb. I had so much fun reading the different dialects from the graveyard commentators as the ghosts who remain refuse to accept they are actually dead. There was humor liberally laced throughout this very sad scenario as well as an examination of class, race, and life itself. I loved it and heartily recommend it to anyone. Thanks daughter!

Early Childhood

There Remains Unadulterated love for the Cat though

The experience of dealing with a newborn compared with the travails of a two year old makes for an interesting dichotomy when observing from afar ( one of the defining luxuries of grandparenting). My two granddaughters provide that fascinating contrast, both of which provide a very different but no less ardent challenge for the parenting effort involved.

The BRS Charming her Other Grandma

Flexing for the Camera

Showing Off her Newest Shoes
They Do Start Young

Last night my wife and I received a FaceTime call from my daughter which opened with a primordial scream of displeasure from the FBR. We were not the people she wanted to talk to and she had no qualms about letting us know that in no uncertain terms. Her dad was out with some friends and when we appeared instead of Wingman the screams began. Her very harried mother apologized profusely and prepared to terminate the call which brought about a complete reversal of fortunes. She now wanted to talk with us and to come up and visit us. She then took over the IPad and carried us into the living room to show us some of her toys. At this point something must have distracted her because she left the IPad in the middle of the floor leaving us a perfect view of the ceiling but little else. Our daughter eventually came in to rescue us and once again apologized. We couldn’t immediately respond because we were laughing so hard remembering another headstrong two year old who was even more challenging. That of course would be the young lady who had just picked up the IPad. She could tell what we were thinking and only nodded resignedly. There is a little bit of sneaky pleasure in seeing your offspring forced to deal with some of the same stimulation they themselves provided.

the Most Patient Cat

Or Resigned

Back at the movies last night to see Annihilation. I was interested to see how this very complex novel would be translated to film. It’s always a challenge when a very dense, albeit excellent, novel has to be condensed into a two hour movie. I was more than pleasantly surprised to see the basic story line survive but modified enough to keep the audience fully involved. If anything, I liked the movie’s take better than the book’s; that is rare indeed and a tribute to the screenwriter. Natalie Portman plays a scientist on an all-female team sent in to investigate a mysterious extraterrestrial zone that is threatening to encompass the earth. Her husband recently returned from an earlier effort into the same zone and lies stricken by the effects. As soon as they enter the zone they’re exposed to time distortion as well as fantastically mutated plants and animals. This was science fiction done well without sliding into the trap of over emphasis on CGI although there is plenty of that. It was a little jarring to see Jane the Virgin (Gina Rodriguez) swearing like a sailor but she was excellent as were all the members of the team. The women were all kick ass and it was nice the filmmakers didn’t feel the need to have men come to their rescue. I also really liked the ending.