Benson Walk Father’s Day

We stole a march on Father’s Day by journeying up to New Hampshire yesterday with Great Aunt to celebrate the holiday with my son’s family at the ABFA’s parents’ home that also involved a rain-soaked walk down memory lane at the site of a favorite childhood haunt. Before I get to that recollection I have to chronicle yet another well spent celebration of the First Friday of the Week with our serial partners in crime, the Neighborhood Mafiosos and our other Worcester friends. Our favorite dancing location, up until a few years ago, when it closed, was Maxwell Silverman’s which always featured a semi-age-appropriate crowd for us. The owner opened a place in Worcester’s Union Station called Maxwell’s Luciano’s. We’ve had mixed luck there over the years there with dancing usually preempted by some major event in the adjacent, impressive rotunda.

Father's Day Dinner Crowd Yesterday

There was a funny moment as I was wrapping up the family Facetime call, when my Favorite Panamanian charged downstairs and said we were already late picking up the Mafiosos. I was confused (I know, a natural state for me) as she had told me we were picking them up at 6 but that turned out to be the time our reservations were for. High adventure ensued as a panic driven rapid clothes change and charge down the street took place. We ended up only eight minutes late and the other couple had arrived on time to secure the table. We thought we had another dud after the tasty meal as the place was decidedly on the dead side. We had a fairly loud discussion at the table about that which I think the Matre’d overheard. We had paid our checks and were preparing the walk out when the music volume turned up and the dance floor was illuminated. We stayed on and had another one of those fantastic Friday nights of dancing with these great friends. One of my former employees and his wife was in the crowd and I’m sure a little shocked to see his former boss’ gyrations. I hope it didn’t cost him too much sleep afterwards.

Friday Night Fun

We drove up to Hudson, NH on Saturday and arrived before my son’s family. The ABFA’s parents live a short distance from where Benson’s Wild Animal Farm had been. Benson’s was a treasured family day trip every summer when I was growing up. I have clear memories of the animals and children’s attractions, along with the picnic grounds near a lake. Benson’s closed in 1987 and ever since I met the ABFA’s parents, learning of the proximity of the former site I wanted to visit. This offered a perfect opportunity and the ABFA’s most excellent dad guided Great Aunt and I over to what is now a city park. The rain started to pick up as soon as we pulled in so Great Aunt and the ABFA’s dad stayed in the car while I ventured off in search of memories.

The "Large" Benson's Farm Lake

Foundations

The Old Zoo Area

It took me a few minutes to get oriented as the park had the audacity change over the past fifty years. I found the lake and was able to navigate via the many walking paths over to the zoo area. There wasn’t much left. One of the things I was surprised at (but I shouldn’t have been) was how much smaller everything seemed. I guess I was a bit smaller the last time I trod these grounds. The lake was much smaller and the zoo area, what was left of it, much more so. I found a couple foundations and one preserved site, the Old Lady’s Shoe. There were a couple overlooks into former animal enclosures but the rest of the area was unrecognizable.  Still, a lot of fun traipsing through an area that held so many childhood memories.

The Old Lady's Shoe

Seems So Much Smaller Now

Old Wishing Pond

The Overlooks

The Former Center of the Park

Stone Lions from Benson's Now Adorn a Nearby Front Yard

We returned home to find my son’s family arrived and the fun really started. The BRS and BR3 were not going to let being cooped up inside during the rain impact, in any way, their activity levels. They, along with Riggins, made for a very busy afternoon. The BRS has invented her own language and when she was giving me my welcoming hug launched into a series of nonsensical syllables and laughed, hard, when I attempted to repeat them back to her. She felt like she was on to something with my reaction. By the end of the afternoon had all the adults training in her “language”. We were sitting around the table on the sun porch (decidedly sunless) with the BRS perched on an ottoman, saying “everybody” followed by one of her “words”. She would laugh uncontrollably when the adults tried to repeat her words back to her. It was too funny. As is wont to happen in such situations, once ignited, it was hard to quench the act. Eventually her dad had to put a limit on her lessons as she wasn’t letting any other conversations go on.

Riggins and my Son

BRS and her Dad

Goomba and her Abuela

Grandpa Became a Climbing Tower

Son and ABFA

BRS Linguistic Lessons

Grandpa, You're Not Paying Attention

The ladies created a truly special dinner featuring a healthy quotient of dead animal flesh (they knew their audience). As always, at these gatherings, it was so much fun sitting around the table talking with these special humans. BR3 proved the provenance of her heredity by abandoning her chicken nuggets for some steak. We reconvened in the sunless porch after dinner for additional BRS linguistic exercises. BR3, not wanting to be left out of the entertainment, starting the climbing an extensive cat perch next to her dad. The lady shows no fear. The ABFA recounted a very funny story from BR3’s pre-school class. At home her parents call BR3 “Goomba” as an affectionate nickname. When asked at school what her name was, she tartly replied with her first name and then added “Goomba” as her given name. Too funny.

BR3 Climbing

Lessons Continue

Dad, I Made it!

Two Silly Ladies

My Favorite Panamanian was charged with driving home through the rain since, if I haven’t mentioned it, a respectable amount of Coors Lite was associated with the day’s festivities. I was awakened this morning with my Favorite Panamanian feeding me breakfast in bed. She’s also forbidden me from doing any manual labor today as she waits on me. A pretty good deal. On the way back from church we stopped off at the Neighborhood Mafioso’s home to wish them a happy Father’s Day and she presented me with a bag full of homemade whoopie pies. The day just keeps getting better. Happy Father’s Day to all the great dads out there, especially my Favorite Son, Wingman, and, of course, upstairs, the best of us all, Soxfather.

Two movies fell in my A-Z watch, both keepers, Transylvania time, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, much better than remembered, poor Keanu; and Dracula Untold, Turks versus the vampires, who you got?

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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 him her single days in Brooklyn; 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; Soxfather - my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course

Dream Realization Scheduled

Not mine, the Favorite Panamanian’s. Been there, done that, but my ever spiritual wife has never been to the Holy Land. It is approaching a significant miscarriage of justice that secular I have been all over the Holy Land while the ardent Catholic I’m married to never has.  We had talked and I had promised a trip this year to rectify that cosmic imbalance. AAA offered trip that would also include a couple days in next door Jordan which I’d only seen across the Gulf of Aqaba. This past Sunday at church (where else) my Favorite Panamanian, an zealous reader of the weekly church bulletin noticed a trip to the Holy Land being offered. It is hosted by the pastor of our old church in Charlton, who presided over my daughter and Wingman’s wedding. The kicker, the trip also includes a tour of Rome, Venice, and Florence and includes a papal audience.

I realized there was no fighting city hall on this one and gave up on my hope of seeing the Jordanian Petra site (I’ll just have to plug in Raiders #3 to remediate). There was no fighting the Pope and this means so much to my Favorite Panamanian. So, late October we’re bound for the Holy Land, this time without the several hundred well-armed traveling partners from my last adventure there. She came home from some errands yesterday to find our reservations on the kitchen table. I hadn’t yet told her I had decided we could go. Who says I don’t have a flair for the dramatic? I think this will buy me a few toilet seats left up over the next couple weeks.

Wall Complete

Trees Planted

Mission Complete

After an hour or so with the travel agency yesterday I launched back outside to finish up the small addition I’m making to the retaining wall maze in our back yard. I went much faster than I thought and I had the wall done, the trees planted, and the new enclosure filled with soil by 5pm. I used a bunch of the dirt I excavated last year during patio construction. I’m here to tell you that carrying the dirt downhill was intensely more fun that carrying it up. My Favorite Panamanian even gushed about what a good job I’d done but that was after she found the tickets so she may have had an inflated opinion of me at the time.

FBR Was Out Buying Flowers Yesterday

She has 2 Front Teeth Again!

Two movies fell in my A-Z watch, both keepers, Downsizing – just love this movie, mostly for Hong Chau; and Dragonslayer – an old time favorite of wizards and dragons (you’ll notice this movie was placed out of alphabetical order during the granddaughter reorganization of my library).

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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 him her single days in Brooklyn; 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; Soxfather - my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course

Old Friend’s Birthday

I don’t know if it’s correct to label the United States Army as a friend, it certainly didn’t feel like it at times, but I spent almost three decades firmly within its arms so there was certainly some form of attraction. It is, in fact the 248^th birthday of that beloved institution. I do miss it, each and every day. Not as much as when I was still employed and had to compare my employees with the Soldiers I’d been blessed to serve with but that wasn’t as big a difference as I feared when I left Uncle Sam’s cloying embrace in 2005. I miss the comradery of shared values and the real sense of honor you were expected to conduct yourself with. I know that sounds hokey to civilians who’ve never served and some who served but never figured that out but it was real. You’d understand if you were as lucky as I was to serve in a unit like the 101^st Airborne Division where everybody was expected to know and sing “We Have a Rendezvous with Destiny” at every division gathering and while there meeting the real “Band of Brothers” when they were honored.  The Army was only supposed to be a four-year experiment after college for me but I found my life’s calling there.

It sent me to all the continents except Antarctica and to Panama so I could meet my Favorite Panamanian. Because of the Army, I’ve marched at the Tomb of the Unknowns, met a President in the Oval Office, watched a Presidential Inauguration from the US Capitol balcony, appeared in a major motion picture (for three seconds), served at Pentagon on 9/11, jumped out of a lot of perfectly good airplanes that were going to land, met lifelong friends, and most of all, served with some of the toughest, most honorable men that have ever walked the earth as the Army reinvented itself from a shell following Vietnam to become part of the preeminent combat force the world has ever seen. So Happy birthday and thank you old friend. (P.S. I don’t miss the pushups)

One of the things I did not expect to be doing to celebrate this august birthday was burying a dead skunk. Late last night, when I came upstairs from the Man Cave, I was confronted by an overpowering smell wafting through the kitchen’s open windows. If you grew up in New England you know the smell whereof I speak. I thought a skink had gotten into it with a coyote or something else in the back yard and went up to bed where thankfully the smell hadn’t reached. My Favorite Panamanian is super sensitive to odors (perpetually bad news for me) and noticed this morning when the smell, while dissipated was still there.

Source of the Smell

I started my next back yard project this afternoon and wisely decided to include her in the final site selection. While we were checking that out, I noticed the dead skink lying in the next-door neighbor’s back yard immediately adjacent (of course) to the work site. My wife also noticed some mint she had planted had been eaten overnight and theorized the skunk had OD’ed after his snack. I checked the internets and mint is potentially toxic to animals, who knew? Figures that something that smells nice would be anathema to a skunk. Since the neighbors rarely venture into their backyard, I knew I’d have to take care of the odiferous remains. I got the longest handled shovel I own and deposited him in a deep grave on top of our back yard hill.

The Site and the Trees

Grass Cleared

Progress at End of Day

After that hasty ceremony I got to work on the small retaining wall section I’m creating to house a couple new pine trees. It’s supposed to offer additional privacy to the patio area. The trees have been sitting on that patio while they await their final home. A couple nights ago my wife got up late at night and looked out the window overlooking the patio and was convinced there were two guys standing out there in the shadows casing the house. She has a dramatic imagination but, luckily before she woke me up to confront these attackers, some moonlight revealed it was only the trees. I got the site cleared and about half the wall done today; should have the trees in the ground tomorrow.

Two movies fell in my A-Z watch, both keepers, Double Jeopardy, much better than I remembered, Ashley Judd – smoking hot; and Down With Love, so funny to watch this parody after just watching the Doris Day/Rock Hudson movies it parodies.

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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 him her single days in Brooklyn; 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; Soxfather - my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course

Weekend Roundup

I was decisively engaged yesterday or, since I’m retired, I guess a better explanation is that after working out in the morning, I was in serious recovery mode in the Man Cave. That is related entirely to my weekend activities of challenging a body more than it should have been but it was so much fun. Whatever, I didn’t get around to writing on Frail Deeds but I need to recap the extremely fun Sunday we achieved. The Worcester couple, close friends of the Neighborhood Mafiosos, and our usual partners in crime Fridays at the Auburn Legion, invited us over for a barbecue at their beautiful Worcester home along with the Mafiosos. Their home is tucked away on one of Worcester’s seven hills and provided a nice secluded patio area to pass away the gorgeous spring afternoon.

Great Way to Spend a Sunday Afternoon

Our host was excelling with one his newest toys, a smoker. He was worried about making sure I would have something to eat (my picky eating habits precede me). The Mafioso’s husband assured him as long as dead animal flesh was involved; we were good to go. Since the music is usually too loud to carry on a coherent conversation at the Legion Hall, it was nice to have the opportunity to talk with these great friends while the excellent meal was devoured. All four of the other people grew up in Worcester and it was fascinating to hear stories of “what it used to be like”. I’ve developed a real affection for this place and history has always been one of my passions. So, a very productive weekend including a Saturday thunder run to Keene and hanging with the best Worcester friends on Sunday. I’ll say it again. I am blessed.

I saw this cartoon online and burst out laughing. All baby boomer mothers received this training and passed it on to their children. They were intensely concerned, not so much that we would have an accident, that was apparently a given, but, that when said fate occurred, we would have dirty underwear on. It now sems like a little bit of fractured priorities. Inventory was taken during the weekly laundry haul and counseling would follow if undergarments were beyond the pale (tough when you play a lot of basketball) and God forbid, there were holes – a truly cardinal maternal sin.

Two movies fell in my A-Z watch, both keepers, as I complete Doris Day/Rock Hudson movie collection (3): Lover Come Back, 60s Madmen decidedly not like the tv show and Send me no Flowers, hyper-hypochondria taken for a ride

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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 him her single days in Brooklyn; 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; Soxfather - my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course

Piney Thunder Run

I am always searching for reasons to return to my home town and my latest back yard project provided the perfect excuse. I’m building another small terrace on the downhill side of the back yard to provide more privacy to the new patio area. I planned on putting two more trees therein to create the screen I want. The only problem was the Worcester Home Depot didn’t have the correct kind of trees to match the five I already had adjacent. My Favorite Panamanian in her myriad shopping excursions mentioned that she had seen them in the Keene Home Depot. Excuse achieved!!

Legal Review Team Yesterday with our Client

After spending the week eradicating clover from the front yard (I am getting old) I decided it was time to start this project I had been talking about since early spring. My Favorite Panamanian mentioned that we weren’t doing anything Saturday and why didn’t we head up to Keene. I think she realized, with the immediacy of my reply, that I had been searching for a reason to do just that. I alerted the Thunder Run contingent but Keene Friend was heading over to Manchester with Keene Friend 2. The Cantankerous Friend, fresh from donating more of his facial skin to the city pavements, was around and available since his bike riding is on hiatus until he can move his right hand again.

Newest Arrivals

After quickly picking up the trees (and yet another perennial that my wife had to have) we arrived at the Cantankerous Friend’s home to find him battered and bruised from his game of chicken with a pickup truck. He had some scabs on the side of his face as well as an eye brow freshly stitched back on and a healthy sized splint in his broken right hand. He showed us his cherished (and very expensive) bike with its shattered rear end where the truck struck him. He was remarkably calm about the entire episode and is only concerned the insurance company might give him a run around on replacing the bike.

Action Shot of FBR in her Classroom 

We adjourned to that renowned center of legal cogitation, the Lab ‘n Lager. We were joined in short order by the Kindergarten Friend and a female high school classmate who is also a bike riding enthusiast. Cantankerous gave us all a run down (poor choice of words that) on his recent accident and we applied our best legal opinions which grew more cogent as the amount of adult beverages were sent down range increased. It was another one of those episodes where sitting around enjoying company of old friends is just about the best medicine for morale ever invented. I also did my part reuniting the female friend with another female classmate she hadn’t talked to in years. We made the obligatory semi-inebriated call to the PCR but he might have blocked my number because the call would not go through. We ended the late afternoon by declaring victory as the Favorite Panamanian texted that she was through her latest pillaging expedition at TJ Maxx and was looking for some dinner.  Cantankerous and I walked over to Margarita’s to re-establish that tradition. The only thing missing was Keene Friend. A great day. I am blessed by the people in my life.

With her Best Bud at a Birthday Bash

Not similarly blessed is out benighted former president. I always thought the classified documents case was no big deal. I spent a lot of time with classified information in my military career and I thought these documents were just some minor reports that had been inadvertently clumped with Trump’s personal papers when they un-assed the White House. I was blown away reading the actual indictment, which I encourage you all to do, it is eye opening. These were not minor documents dealing with routine information. These were highly sensitive. We’re talking special compartmented information that could have a real impact if released to the wrong people/governments. The most damning reading in the indictment tells the very active role Trump personally played in hiding the documents in order to retain them.

This adds real consternation as to why he wanted them. I’ve always doubted the accusations that Trump worked against the interests of our country but this is clear evidence of just that. This wasn’t a witch hunt. He will bellow from the pulpit that he is being persecuted but if this was anybody else, we would already be looking out our cell window in Lewisburg. I’m also sure this won’t hurt him politically as his supporters believe everything he says despite direct evidence of the tangential relationship he has with the truth. It’s one of the biggest mysteries in my life. I cannot, for the life of me, understand why good people still believe in this clown. I’m a life long conservative who usually votes Republican but I’m lost to a party that still carries this traitor’s banner, because, make no mistake, that is exactly what he is, a clear and present danger to our way of life.

One movie fell in my A-Z watch, a keeper, as I move into a Doris Day/Rock Hudson movie collection (3): Pillow Talk – the joys of having a party line.

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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 him her single days in Brooklyn; 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; Soxfather - my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course