Alrighty Then!

So, words just won’t do it; more correctly, my limited ability to convey how much joy this past few days brought me is an impossible task. I’ve been away from the computer for the past four days and I didn’t miss it, even a little bit. Granted my Man Cave haunt was converted into a spare bedroom for Wingmom but even absent that situation I wouldn’t have gone near the ethernet. It wasn’t just that I was having too much fun (I was) but when I wasn’t, I was exhausted from that situation.

Early Christmas Morning

It all started Thursday afternoon when my daughter’s family pulled into town. Except for an unfortunate feline urinary incident during the trip, they made great time driving up from New Jersey. My Favorite Panamanian and I were escorted upstairs to have rapid Covid tests administered. Once we emerged negative we were finally able to get around to all the hugging the season (well any time we get together) requires. The FBR was fascinated with all the Christmas decorations as my wife had turned the house into an experience to rival the Hallmark movies she always watches while baking Christmas cookies. She also had a hop scotch game stuck to the floor and a felt Christmas tree set up for the granddaughters to have fun with.

The Hopscotch Game

Felt Christmas Tree

FBR's Effort

The FBR immediately required another “adventure” into the woods behind the house. We gathered firewood for a fire that never took place but the gathering was a lot of fun. The best part was having these great people plus a dog and a cat literally filling up the house. We received a minor snow storm overnight which was all the FBR needed to require a snowball fight which was more like target practice for the FBR than a real fight. I played the part of the target. She also raced up the hill to slide down on her saucer a few dozen times. It was so different than last year when I had to walk her up each time. I prudently stationed myself, at her urging, in the vicinity of my Favorite Panamanian’s restored Virgin Mary statue to prevent a repeat of last year’s unfortunate decapitation event.

Sliding is Back

Taking Aim at Grandpa

This all evolved into Christmas Eve dinner and the arrival of my Favorite Son and his family to complete the Christmas crowd. The cousins immediately returned to their house on fire comradery whilst the adults, as well as BR3, enjoyed a prime rib dinner. This was my wife’s first effort with prime rib and it was more than a complete success. This was followed by the usual Christmas Eve activities, including the opening of one present by the granddaughters. This became problematic when the FBR chose a present that turned out to be dreaded clothes instead of a toy. We successfully distracted her by telling her it was time to lay out the cookies, milk, and note for Santa. She actually wrote the note herself this year. The FBR instructed the BRS that Grandpa blanket rides up the stairs were the bomb. This might be the last year I can offer them to the FBR due to her increasing size combined with my equally cumulative age. I was trailed up the stairs by concerned parents. I’m not sure they were anxious more about my physical strength or the amount of beer sent downrange ahead of the rides.

Daughter, FBR and Abuela on Gingerbread House Build

Artiste at Work

Not to be Disturbed

Finished Product

Son, ABFA, & BR3

Getting the FBR and BRS to sleep became a team effort that stretched over three hours. Even the threat of Santa avoiding the house if they were still awake did little to quench their determination to fight sleep. Every single adult journeyed up the stairs to try and induce and/or threaten dire consequences to little or no effect. Eventually my Favorite Panamanian’s turn came up and she was gone for nearly an hour and a half. She achieved success although she literally spent most of the time in bed with the girls. Love Actually, another family Christmas tradition, followed in the Man Cave. A little after midnight, after the movie, I found myself in the kitchen preparing the Christmas turkey for its early morning rendezvous with the oven.

Cousin Time

Princess BRS

Decorating Abuela's Hair

Daughter and BR3

The agreement the gals would stay in bed until seven Christmas morning was shattered as apparently they never got the memo. We could hear the patter of small feet around 5am. To rescue beleaguered parents, I gathered all three granddaughters into our bedroom to wait out the appointed hour. This was an interesting interlude involving a mass frog migration acted out. The two older cousins raided my wife’s vast shoe collection and an extended fashion show ensued. It was a great way to kick off Christmas morning.

Christmas Morning Frog Race

BR3 Peek a Boo with Grandpa

"There he Is!"

Shoe Show

We all eventually made it downstairs to the well laden Christmas tree and the explosions of delight that Santa Claus had in fact slipped in during their brief interludes of sleep. The FBR wanted to distribute presents because she could now read the tags. The place was soon a maelstrom of wrapping paper, toys, and dolls. BR3 waded through the morning not really understanding everything that was going on but she made the rounds to all participants. I just sat back and reveled in the chaos.

Christmas Morning Chaos

This was followed by mimosas, hojaldras, and Christmas cookies (okay the cookies was mostly me). I snuck down early in the morning to start up to turkey and it was just starting to emit the trademark smell as breakfast went down. Shortly before Christmas dinner Great Aunt and Soxfather joined us for the rest of the day. My Favorite Panamanian had gone to great lengths decorating the table and the guys once again met the dinner time with a tasty meal. The men have been in charge of the Christmas meal prep in our family for over thirty years now. It’s nice having adult men to help carry the load now, especially my Favorite Son, who should be taking over primacy in a few short years.

Dinner Table

Where do the Batteries go?

BR3 Dominating a Hat

Dinner was followed by my favorite time of the holiday, a night of extended conversation in the living room while the granddaughters flitted around playing with newly acquired toys. Since there was an ice storm brewing up north, Keene Friend couldn’t make it down but that was the only downer of a really enjoyable evening of sharing conversations and lots of laughs with a very special group of humans. Soxfather became a focal point for the FBR and BRS as he continued his legendary ways with silly games. Eventually bed time rolled around for the granddaughters and the obligatory blanket rides from grandpa, again with the worried parents trailing me upstairs. The ladies once again did their very best to fight off the challenge of actually falling asleep while I’m sure they could hear the extended laughter coming from downstairs. Just about a perfect day.

FBR & BRS in Abuela Boots

Meanwhile BR3 Gets a Ride

The granddaughters were up early again the day after Christmas. Holjadras were consumed and wounds from a night of mild over indulgence were addressed. My Favorite Son’s departure was inevitable and lamented. The BRS and BR3 almost immediately went to sleep upon leaving which was hilarious considering they did their very best not to sleep while here. The remaining group settled in to watch a very disappointing Patriots’ game. They may have raised our expectations a bit too much in this rebuilding year.

Favorite Panamanian with Technicolor Hair

Great Aunt Looking so much Like Our Mom

Soxfather Holding Court

Immediately following the game, we packed up for the annual trip to NH and Keene Friend’s house for the traditional day after Christmas gathering. We’ve been doing this ever since my mother passed away since the gathering had been at her house prior. With Covid concerns still fairly abundant the group was small but what it lacked in size it made up for with comradery. The Cantankerous Friend and Keene Friend 2 joined us for a detailed discussion on the state of the world as well as pizza. In a scene repeated from two years ago, the FBR was singularly fascinated with the Cantankerous One. Some things are just inexplainable.

The Boys

Monday brought all the celebrating to a screeching halt with the departure of the New Jersey bunch. We packed up the car which my daughter was driving back to New Jersey with along with the FBR, Wingmom, as well as a cat and dog. As soon as they pulled away, I drove Wingman to Boston to catch a flight to his upcoming reunion tour with his band. I returned to a very quiet home where my Favorite Panamanian was addressing the accumulated debris from a weekend spent entirely too well. I was charged with ripping up the hopscotch decals and preserving them for future iterations. This was not fun. My wife disappeared upstairs to being the process of packing for Panama which is bearing down upon us now that we have adequately enjoyed Christmas. For those that know me, the fact that we reached “adequate” means we had more fun than is probably strictly legal.

Five Minutes After they Left

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RECURRING CHARACTERS                                           

BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; 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; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn

Overdue and Crossover Supreme

I’m not exactly sure how many of my personal habits acquired or drilled into me during my nearly three decades in the Army I’ve taken with me into civilian life. One that I am sure of is the length of my hair. I thought one of the first things I would do upon retiring form the military was let my hair grow long again. I was mildly disappointed to find it came out almost all gray and reminded me how unmanageable a curly mop it had been prior to being shorn for all those years in uniform. After a couple months I decided I missed the convenience of really short hair and have had it ever since. I remark upon this because this morning I finally convinced my wife to give me a very overdue haircut. We’ve discovered during the pandemic that my haircut is so simple that anybody could do it. This is not to cast aspersions on my designated barber, my Favorite Panamanian, though. She’s done a bang-up job ever since taking over responsibility for it early in 2020.

The FBR is Ready for the Holidays!!!!

It was overdue because of an old Panamanian wife’s tale. This is how I describe it at least. I should have had the haircut a couple weeks ago but she refused because I still had that cold I wrote about. She said it was very unhealthy to let the metal cutters touch your hair when you’re sick. Is it just me or is that just plain weird? At any rate my hair was the longest it had been since that time, mentioned above, directly after retiring. I used to get annoyed when elementary school teachers used to crow to my parents about my beautiful curly hair. I longed for straight hair and I learned when it’s really short it is, for all intents and purposes, straight. So there.

The Before Picture with Really Long Hair

Another habit that thankfully stuck with me was the need to stay in shape. One of the last things my mother ever said to me was the advice, “never get fat”. Of course, the Army, had a vested interest in seeing that I followed that advice with monthly weigh-ins to confirm everyone still met standards. When I got out I found I also missed the workouts and have been doing them in some form ever since. However, I managed to acquire a lot more weight than I was comfortable with when I worked full time. I’ve found in semi-retirement I can devote a lot more time to exercise, mainly because there are fewer excuses to miss workouts. I reached a goal with today’s weigh-in, maybe because of all the hair that I lost, as I now weigh the same as when I commanded an infantry battalion in 1999. I’m kind of proud of that. It will be a short-lived achievement as Christmas cookies will emerge from cold storage tomorrow and the Christmas weekend beckons with non-stop hedonistic pursuits of food and maybe a few beers. Oh, and the grocery store finally had whoopie pies again today. It just means the ten pounds I’m sure I’ll acquire over the next few days will give me something to work off when I hit the beach in a few weeks. A good problem to have.

And After - Blessedly Short Again

Keene Friend stopped by the house yesterday to drop off presents for the family, including a huge one that he conspired with my son as well as Great Aunt/Soxfather. I’m most worried that they let him wrap it because he has a well-earned reputation for excessive wrapping. We’re talking layers and layers often and other obstacles. So much so that whenever a package arrived from him during my military career my kids reveled as they watched me try to pry the package open, a true family legend. Anyways, I’ve got that to look forward to. He also accompanied us to see this week’s movie, Spiderman, Far From Home.

This latest Marvel effort is fantastic. It lives up to the Marvel standard which is lofty and cements Spiderman’s legacy in the Marvel Universe. It will also go down in movie history as the crossover event to end all crossovers. While the movie is excellent in its own right, with a tremendous amount of heart, the crossovers from prior versions of Spiderman were incredibly funny and in a couple of situations, painfully poignant. It will be hard to describe without revealing too many details but if you’ve seen the prior incarnations of Spiderman than you have to see this, just for a well made walk to memory lane. Tom Holland can be a bit annoying but it’s hard to not fall under his spell as a truly young Spiderman. He’s faced with his secret identity being outed by the last movie’s villain and that leads to some very funny moments. He teams up with Dr Strange, who predictably steals every scene he’s forced to deal with the teenagers in. Speaking of scene stealing, Zendaya is pitch perfect as MJ teaming up with Peter and Ned to thwart a veritable legion of reincarnated bad guys. There are some tough moments and it will be interesting to see where Marvel takes this character next but if this is Holland’s last turn, at least he went out on top. One of my favorite movies of the year.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS                                           

BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; 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; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn

Holiday Testing

One of the things we wanted to do prior to our family Christmas gathering was to have everybody get tested. A couple of months ago this would have been a breeze. That was life before the omicron variant. I went to three different CVS stores yesterday only to be greeted at the front door with signs proclaiming they were sold out and didn’t know when they would get resupply. I checked online and the nearest scheduled appointment I could get was well after the holidays. I guess I could join the three hour long wait for unscheduled testing but that seems to defeat the whole purpose, i.e., avoiding other people. The People’s Republic of Taxxachusetts distributed a couple million free in-home tests but the 200K that Worcester received all went to low income support agencies. I don’t argue with that because the poor have been hit hardest as they have the highest percentage, along with Trump supporters, of the unvaccinated. Some things I’ll never understand. You’re offered a free preventative to a deadly disease and you decide to avoid it because of some weird ramblings you find on social media. I guess this is ole Darwin back at work, weeding out incompetents from the gene pool.

FBR Helping Mom

I have modified my routine this week ahead of the family arrivals. I’ve eschewed my morning swim workouts because there really is no way to mask during that activity. That means a doubling of the bike workouts which are literately a pain in the ass. Nothing, though, can dampen the excitement of once again having the entire clan under one roof again. Christmas cookie baking was also coordinated this year with my Favorite Son making peanut butter blossoms as well as sugar cookies while my Favorite Daughter contributes her peerless chocolate sugar cookies. The FBR assisted in that preparation and was in charge of adding the sugar topping. I think I put on a couple extra pounds just looking at the pictures. I can’t wait.

The End Result

The FBR Sugaring Station

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RECURRING CHARACTERS                                           

BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; 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; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn

Christmas – That Time of Year

I post the words below each year around this time for the self-stated reasons. 2021 certainly rose to the occasion, replacing the travesty that was 2020. We’re back to having a full house again this year from Christmas although rapid testing will be done ahead of time thanks to new friend – Omicron. I spent a lot of time yesterday getting wrapping done. The tree is now fully stocked although more gifts are inbound. I’ve found I have to become more stealthy about the Santa gifts due to a very inquisitive 6-year-old who last year questioned why some presents from Santa had the same wrapping paper as otenhrs from family members. I’ve got up my game.

Our Freshly Stocked Tree

I am an unabashed and unrepentant lover of Christmas time, in all of its glorious corniness.  I love Christmas carols, Christmas parties, but most of all Christmas Day. I can remember Christmas as far back as the age of 3.  I still remember one special year in my early teens when I was overcome with Christmas spirit, feeling so good about the season and just general happiness that I wondered at myself. This feeling lasted until well after Christmas and no, to all you cynics out there, the feelings were not chemically assisted.  Every year since then has been an attempt to recapture that feeling. Most years I get it in bits and pieces, mostly associated with time I spend with my family and friends. I served 27 years in the Army and made it home every year for Christmas except for three years.

My wife and “kids” smile behind me, good naturedly, because they know how important Christmas is to me. I know there are those raging elements or hipsters out there that bemoan what modern Christmas has evolved to. Some say it overly commercialized or others not properly religious. It seems there are always those elements in society – “Grinchs” for lack of a better term. These seem to be people so unhappy with their own lives that they target times or traditions that bring happiness to others for scorn.

I could not care less about these self-important gas bags.  There is nothing in life more enjoyable than being around people you love and actually taking some time out of the all too busy lives we lead to simply be together. So, to all of you out there that bad mouth Christmas – get a life; the rest of us already have one and we’re going to have the merriest Christmas of all in spite of you or more correctly in homage to the love we are blessed with of each other.  Merry Christmas!

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RECURRING CHARACTERS                                           

BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; 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; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn

Blinded

As I’m writing this a storm is blowing through that was supposed to provide some snow and an outside chance at a white Christmas. New England though had some other ideas and we started off with rain which has since changed over to ice. This should be fun. We didn’t plan anything today because we knew this thing was blowing in but the lack of snow is frustrating, especially because I have the shortest window of my life in New England to see some snow this winter. I’m not upset about that as I’m going to be on a Panamanian beach early in January through the beginning of April. Still, hopes for a white Christmas endure.

Newly Installed Blinds

The accumulation of indoor tasks was specially earmarked for today based on the weather reports. That started out with the installation of window blinds in the dining room. I confidently told my Favorite Panamanian that I had watched Deckzilla Dude install the blinds in our master bedroom and felt I could handle this minor project with ease. I knew I should have kept my mouth shut. I installed the first bracket with only some minor donation of knuckle skin when I accidently knocked over a nearby wall ornament. That broke my potentially longest streak ever of not breaking things. The absence of Buddy the Wonder Pooch has greatly aided that streak. Predictably the ornament was very special to my wife, a memento from Panama, and shattered into a thousand pieces when it landed at my feet. My expression of alarm brought my nearby wife racing to the scene. She might start talking t o me again by Christmas. In the end I started to use a drill to put the screws in which speeded things up and spared the remaining wall ornaments. Now it’s on the wrapping presents in my very quiet house.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS                                           

BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; 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; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn

Cold Beater

I know that I squawk a little too much about the vagaries of getting old with my twenty-year-old mind making decisions for a sixty-six-year-old body. I’ll add another to the list by saying this older body has a tougher time fighting off colds than younger versions of myself did. With all the pandemic protocols in place I’ve had a very healthy last two years, well outside the whole skin and prostate cancer stuff, not even a sniffle has darkened the horizon. BR3 put an end to that last week when she passed on her cold, probably while she was seated in my lap demanding I share my breakfast with her. She’s very insistent. My younger self would have knocked this thing down in a couple days. I think I’m finally getting past it here on the sixth day. On the upside, I channeled a little Phoebe Buffay, telling my Favorite Panamanian that I thought my cold effected voice sounded a lot sexier than normal. I’m still trying to figure out why she laughed so hard.

Oreo-ed

I’ve been very active during the last week, making my swim workouts and everything else but the cold still dogged me all week.  I don’t think my tried-and-true heretofore successful technique of just ignoring it will work anymore. This will, of course, fall into yet another “told you so” category for a certain Panamanian lady I live with. I am getting psyched as we find ourselves a week away from when the first family members start showing up for Christmas – way, way too cool. BR3, the family new Typhoid Mary, had very little to say last night during our call. She was learning the exquisite joy that comes from eating an Oreo cookie. ‘Nuff said.

Date night on Tuesday had my wife and I at the movies to see West Side Story. I’ll be the first to tell you that I didn’t see the need or even interest in reviving this iconic 1960s classic, but Spielberg, right, so I went to see it. I’m so glad I did because the master has done it again. He reinvented the story while keeping all the memorable songs and updating it with 21^st Century sensibilities while leaving it set in the 1960s. A lot of the credit in the acting category goes to newcomer Rachel Zegler as Maria. She’s luminous and is blessed with a phenomenal singing voice. She’s more than helped by Ariana DeBose as Anita. I figured this was something I would sit through as a favor to my Hispanic wife who inevitably would make the comparisons with our own story, decidedly less tragic than Maria and Tony’s. I loved the movie and it helped I understood the Spanish spoken without subtitles which I thought made the film seem more authentic. I count this as the biggest surprise of 2021, but it shouldn’t be, should it. Spielberg.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS                                           

BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; 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; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn