Mummified and Yet Another Big Birthday

September seems to be rife with important birthdays and one of the most important of the year rolls around today. We are celebrating the birth of Keene Friend today. Well, we’re not, because when we invited him out to dinner, he already had a full dance card. That figures because that’s the kind of guy he is, very popular. He’s more brother than friend and the master of understated, very sly, dry humor for which is justifiably famous. He is an indelible part of the family. When I was in the Army, he would show up to shovel the snow off my mother’s driveway. He never forgets one of my kids’ birthdays. On that note, although he’s never had any children of his own, he treats the kids of his close friends as his extended family. He proudly displays their pictures on his fridge. My kids love him as an uncle which is what he’s called within the family. Some relationships are closer than blood.

The Birthday Boy

With my Favorite Panamanian, Please Don't ask Her for Decorating Advice (Again)

Fixture at Family Events, with Cantankerous, My kids, The ABFA and Great Aunt

While we weren’t able to get together with him today, we’ll rectify that later this week with one of the biggest social events of our year, our mutual high school reunion. It’s revealing and a little disturbing that this is the 50^th anniversary of our high school graduation. How the hell did we get this old? That’s actually a very good question considering some of the things we did fifty years ago, going 70MPH on North Lincoln Street (what the hell were we thinking!). Then there was the whole over the car roof beer bottle toss at signs. Again, surprising we made it this far. I am so looking forward to seeing all the classmates which will, of course, include, along with Keene Friends 1 & 2, the PCR, Cantankerous, the Kindergarten Friend, the CRC, and all those “girls” I had mad crushes on in high school but was too shy to ever talk to. Very cool indeed.

With his Cousin, the PCR, Who we'll See this Week!

Happy Birthday Big Guy!

Back at home we are at an important transitional change in the Favorite Panamanian’s vast garden complex. Although the weather doesn’t seem to have gotten the message that summer is over, her garden plants have started to wither. This marks the annual introduction of the mums. She recently ran across a huge sale on the autumnal flower and that meant a series of trimming the old and planting the new in garden complex. I managed to get them all into the ground with a minimum of supervision, calls from her friends helped in that regard. An important lesson to learn for future endeavors where wifely supervision in inevitable and automatically unwelcome.

Summer Plants Withering

Replaced the Next Day

Around all this planting we snuck in a date night where we saw Equalizer 3. It's tough to string together three quality movies in a series. It helps immensely if you have Denzel along to make it happen. This one starts out with an entire mafia complex learning to their eternal rest that it wasn't a good idea to cross Robert McCall. He sticks around Italy for the rest of the film assisting a village on the Amalfi coast against even more mafia types, who hadn't gotten the word. A very picturesque setting for a blood bath. It was cool to see Denzel and Dakota Fanning reunited so many years after their Man on Fire epic turn. It did make me feel old.  really good action movie with Denzel once again, dominating, but you expect that, still so cool he delivers each and every time.

Two movies fell in my A-Z watch, both keepers: From Here to Eternity, so cool to see my old post, Schofield Barracks, in Hawaii; and From Paris with Love, underrated, awesome Luc Besson action film, Travolta as you’ve never seen him.

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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

Never Forget

The words below are the same I publish each year on September 11 to remember that day in 2001. I was assigned to the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. I remember a beautifully clear day where the oppressive summer Washington, DC heat was finally gone. We had recently dropped off my daughter for her freshman year at Boston University, my son was a junior in high school, and my wife worked at an adult day care facility in Northern Virginia. I was actually in a satellite office in Crystal City while our Pentagon offices were refurbished. My morning routine was to head out for a run along the Potomac River where there was a nice running trail. I ran around the Pentagon and glanced over at the helipad where I had taken several trips out of and then wound my way down to the river. I had just reached the river, on the opposite side of the Pentagon from the helipad, and turned south when I heard a very loud bang. There was always a lot of construction going on in nearby Crystal City so I initially thought that someone had used a little too much explosive for a new roadway.

Red X is Where the Plane Went in, Blue Line is my Running Route that Day
Yellow X is Where I was When the Plane Hit

As I continued my run I heard police sirens blooming from every direction. I reached a gap in the trees and could see a column of smoke rising from the Pentagon. I had just about reached the point where the running trail nears National Airport and I was greeted by a truly surreal sight. The airport, in reaction to the earlier attacks in New York City, was being emptied. People, with their luggage in tow, were wandering down the running trail with no real sense of where they were going, only that they had been ordered to leave the terminal. I gave directions to the nearest hotel to some and then headed back to my office, by now the sirens were almost deafening and traffic had come to a complete stop in both directions on the nearby George Washington Parkway. When I reached my office I learned the true scope of the disaster and watched the towers fall on a TV someone had set up in their cubicle. There were a series of follow up explosions as transformers blew up in reaction to the Pentagon disaster. A couple guys and I made our way over to the Pentagon to see if we could help with any evacuation but the area was already cordoned off. We helped the rapidly growing casualty collection in the south parking lot; there were a lot of dazed civilian workers. The military, even those wounded, were trying to help out; we all realized we had just gone to war. Eventually we were ushered away as more of the professional emergency workers showed up. I returned to my office and decided it would be a good idea to let my family know I was alive. I called my wife who had heard and was just about to go into full blown panic mode. I called Boston University because I didn’t have my daughter’s dorm room number with me and when I explained where I was calling from the operator connected me directly, even though that wasn’t usually allowed. I spoke with my daughter’s roommate who promised to find my daughter and let her know. A similar call to my son’s high school followed by a call to my mother’s house. I had to leave a message there since she out shopping and she later told me that was the best phone message she ever received because she had convinced herself I had been killed after hearing the news on the car radio.

All buses, my normal way home, were shut down at the Pentagon. Washington DC was shutting down and everybody was released from work at the same time. I went to the Metro station and waited while five different trains, packed to the gills, went by until I was able to squeeze into one. I rode it as far as I could and then walked up to a nearby mall where I could wait for my wife to come pick me up. I sat in a bar and watched the day’s events unfold on TV. One of the other patrons claimed to have been driving on I-395 and saw the plane plow into the Pentagon. He said he would never forget seeing the airline lettering so clear and so close. The plane went right into the area near the helipad, where I had run ten minutes before. After an hour the entire mall closed and I had to go wait outside a bookstore, also closed, for about two hours before my wife was able to get me. One of the most memorable and cherished things from that horrible day were the phone calls we received all that night as friends and family from around the world, knowing I was assigned to the Pentagon, called to insure I was okay. My wife was a little shocked the next day when I told her I was going back to work but I needed to, I was so angry. It didn’t help when I arrived at the Pentagon, smoke still rising with bodies still unrecovered, that I was greeted by a group of protesters reveling in the destruction. It took a lot of self-restraint not to kick some serious ass at that point. I was so glad Clinton was out of office because I knew he would have been incapable of making the tough decisions required by this act. He would have thrown a few cruise missiles and called it a day. 

We, as a nation, learned that day that there are some people who cannot be reasoned with and needed to die; that was the only way to end the threat and that you couldn’t do it from a distance. I also remembered the way the country came together for a short time and I felt glad my kids were around to see it; to see what a united America was like. This eroded over time as the politicians felt safe enough to stop cooperating again, but it did happen. It was another object lesson for evil as well, don’t wake up the sleeping giant, when you do, be prepared to experience unprecedented wrath. These were my memories of the day when everything changed, but maybe not enough.

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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

Birthday-a-Palooza

We’re in the middle of celebrating 171 years’ worth of birthdays this weekend. It’s testimony to the incredible achievements of those we are celebrating that only two people are involved. Yesterday we were at the home of the Latina Mafia’s husband as he celebrated his 80^th birthday. Today there is a big celebration ongoing in David, Panama for my incredible mother-in-law who turn 91 years young today. We add to the total later this week when Keene Friend reaches his day of birth.

Birthday Girl with my Wife's 2 Sisters

Yesterday was the usual amount of fun at our destination, which means a lot, when we arrived at the Leicester home of the birthday boy. His wife, the Latina involved, had done a spectacular job of preparing for the party. There was large tent pitched on the back yard which was a Godsend with the very un-September like, oppressive heat and humidity. We set up shop at a very fun table featuring the Neighborhood Mafiosos and the Czech friends. My Favorite Panamanian was a bit more subdued than usual, due to her persistent vertigo, but more than ready to engage in non-stop conversation.

Our Very Fun Table Yesterday

Birthday Boy is Serenaded

Cake Time

My Czech Shadow was in fine fettle as well, threatening me with her soon to be black belt karate abilities. Luckily a young child showed up to be entertained by her before I was in any real danger. We provided some sombreros for the birthday boy and his wife as they had a mariachi singer to serenade the couple just before the birthday cake. I had to behave myself since my designated driver was still hors de combat. I mentioned during our table conversations that I might have made a mistake in revealing this to my Favorite Panamanian. She can now claim the vertigo returns whenever she feels the need to enforce behavior prior to future social events. Hmmm.

Boquete Time

Tia Loca with her mom

Mom-in-law Walking in Boquete with her Daughters

Meanwhile the mariachis were out in David, Panama early this morning as well. My wife’s two sisters, her twin and Tia Loca, arranged a mariachi band, fully garbed up, to show up at 6am to awaken their mom. My Favorite Panamanian was shown a video of the event later in the morning and was wiping away tears, as was her mom, during the serenade. Yesterday the two sisters had arranged an idyllic overnight stay for their mom in the mountain resort town of Boquete. They spent an entire day plus in the town, escaping the coastal humidity of David, where they were joined by one of the the birthday girl’s granddaughters.

Birthday Girl

91 Years Young

With her Granddaughter

My wife’s two sisters were finally able to celebrate her birthday with their mom since the 90^th birthday last year was celebrated on Deckzilla (memorably I might add). Tia Loca traveled up to David from her Panama City home which I know meant a lot to her mom. I feel a little bad for my Favorite Panamanian to have to party vicariously through the video messages with the celebrants. She’s upstairs as I write this watching an extended family birthday dinner. I told her she now knows how her sisters felt last year. The key issue being that my mother-in-law is properly recognized on her birthday. Happy Birthday Mami!!!

One movie fell in my A-Z watch, a keeper: Frequency, interesting sci fi crime thriller

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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

Retiring Time

First of all, thank you to all the friends and family who’ve reached out to express their concern for my Favorite Panamanian after my last post. She’s getting better incrementally each day but it sure would have been nice to have seen a doctor. Mere minutes after I posted, my phone rang and without looking at the caller ID I told my wife, I bet that’s Great Aunt. As a dedicated nurse my sister took particular umbrage at our Emergency Room experience. It’s a nice part of life when you are as liberally blessed with great friends as my Favorite Panamanian and I are that when something bad happens we get to reconnect with some of them, truly medicinal. She couldn’t attend a retirement party (see below) with me yesterday but she feels up to going to a birthday party today, so progress. There is a dark side, however, as she may not perform her usual designated driver duties post party, I may have to actually behave myself. New country.

Last Night's Honoree

With my Former, Very Funny Deputy

I was back with my old gang from the transit agency yesterday as I was invited to the retirement dinner for one of my favorite subordinate managers. She was truly a superstar. It was so cool seeing all the great people I used to work with, albeit for a short time (again, no designated driver). It was also illustrative of the time I’ve been away since nearly a third of the people there have been hired since I left. As we talked about the business it reinforced the impression I was left with. I don’t miss the work in any way, shape, or form but I certainly miss the people. A very good time with a very handsy waitress which was okay as well. I was back home in time for an abbreviated First Friday Family Facetime Call where the two eldest granddaughters reported on their first weeks of school. The FBR was nonchalant about second grade while the BRS was very positive about her first week in kindergarten. BR3 was typically yet still mildly psychotic. God, I love em.

FBR & BRS Discuss School Times

We’re trying to catch up on the movies we wanted to see at the theater which was severely curtailed first by the “PG” limitations of the visiting granddaughters then by this week’s healthcare drama. On Thursday we went to see Retribution. This is Liam Neeson’s latest action thriller. In deference to his age this time out he spends the entire movie sitting in the driver’s seat of his car; granted there’s an inconvenient bomb directly under the seat. That’s where we get the whole thriller aspect from. Neeson has to follow directions from an unknown bomber (although my wife figured out who that was in the first five minutes) as he chauffeurs his two kids around Berlin watching colleagues’ cars get blown up along the way. The film maintains a lot of tension although the ending was a bit too contrived. They made a big deal about not reducing weight on the pressure plate detonation system only to abandon that for the sake of a dramatic climax. Middling but acceptable summer fare.

Three movies fell in my A-Z watch, all keepers: Free Guy, shot in Worcester!, very funny video game send up; French Connection, hasn’t aged well but still best car chase ever; and Frenzy, Hitchcock’s penultimate film, back in London for murder.

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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

26 Hours in Purgatory

I may get a little emotional here but by the end I’ll hope you understand. Before I fully engage, let me say that I have the utmost respect for those on the medical profession, most especially nurses. I am the son of and a brother to nurses. They have the most important and least appreciated jobs in the world. End of qualification round. I’ve pulled all-nighters many times in the past, especially in the Army. They started in college where my time management skills were nascent, at best, and the all-night studying/typing were required to make up for excess partying. My time management got, necessarily, incredibly better in the Army, but that didn’t prevent and, in many cases, led to all-nighters which were many and usually spent in less than hospitable conditions (that last adjective is thoroughly appropriate to the past two days). I pulled my latest all-nighter Tuesday night and it was completely unplanned, and in my mind, totally unnecessary. My Favorite Panamanian came down with a bout of vertigo, something that runs in her family and has happened a couple times in the past. Since it seemed pretty serious, we wanted to get her in to see a doctor. We’re unfortunately between Primary Care Providers since ours retired unexpectedly and even doctors accepting new patients needed at least eight weeks before an initial appointment (which will be next week). We opted to go to a recently opened Urgent Care Clinic right down the hill from us and were favorably impressed with the new facility.

After easily getting an appointment (they even accepted our insurance) we were seen quickly and then everything stopped. My wife’s blood pressure was very high, and combined with the dizziness, they said I had to get her to the emergency room immediately. That’s the kind of comment I take fairly seriously. We went directly to the University Campus ER of the UMASS Medical Center which has always been a great facility for us. That status suffered a death blow in what followed. We were quickly registered and sent into the Triage room. Her blood pressure had come down a little bit and they took some blood and said we needed to see a doctor. We nodded and took our place in the waiting room. That was the last medical advice we received during our stay which, as referenced above, last twenty-six hours. We were about to experience the dark underbelly of the US medical system. Yes. We spent twenty-six, brutally long hours sitting in the Emergency Room Waiting Area and never got close to a doctor. Everything I’m going to relate now I learned after lodging a complaint and talking for about a half hour with the head of the Urgent Care Unit. We sat down in the waiting room a little after five in the afternoon on Tuesday and watched the various life forms that populate the emergency room. It was exotic. There was a special section where mental health patients were kept and attended to while waiting. People were called from the teeming mess every half hour or so but I figured we had to wait our turn. Boy, was that true. By 8pm those calls stopped and no one was called in for the next twelve hours.

I started to question the on-duty nurse about what the holdup was to learn told patients are seen in priority order. Later I was told we had a low priority since my wife’s blood pressure had come down. I got increasingly angry as I told them she was my #1 priority and it was ridiculous to keep a senior citizen, exposed to all the vectors present in a modern day emergency room, waiting for so long. Little did I realize the wait was just starting. I made runs through the darkened hospital to an in-house Dunkin Donuts shop they had to keep us fed as we learned what the one channel they showed had for late night viewing. We saw the sun set and then rise from the same seats. By mid-morning on Wednesday one of the nicer nurses said based on what she was seeing “on the other side” she hoped we would be called soon. The population had dropped to where hopes sprung up. These were dashed in the early afternoon when new patients, with apparently higher priority, came in and eventually were called in. This included a number of “street people” and drug addicts who inexplicably (to me) had higher priority than my wife. This is when I lodged the complaint to the patient advocate, stating my wife had been in the waiting room for twenty hours at that point with no end in sight.

To their credit, they got back to me. They were appropriately appalled but not surprised at my experience. They offered me a face-to-face meeting with the head of the Urgent Care facility which I agreed to and learned about that aforementioned dark underbelly. We had been waiting on the walk-in side of the emergency room. The other side, unseen by us, took in ambulances and helicopters. There were, unbelievably, 200 beds on the treatment side and all were full. He explained the biggest issue was the lack of beds in the main hospital, fully 80 of the people in the ER rooms should have been moved to the hospital but there were no rooms open. There were no rooms in the hospital because, of the 300 beds there, more than a hundred were occupied by patients waiting for beds to open in rehab facilities. Another significant number were patients that should have been transferred to either mental health facilities or jail but no beds were available there. UMASS is building a new hospital wing that will open in January but that wasn’t of any help now.

FBR Modeling her 1st Day of School Dress

He kept going back to their reliance on their triage and priority system, which they took from a national nurses organization. That’s when I kind of unloaded. I told him that after all the years in the military I knew all about triage and his system was broken. I told him there was absolutely no communication from his staff other than telling us we were a low priority (again, not what anyone wants to hear about a loved one). The nurses and other staff seemed to having a fine timely socially overnight but no information or understanding was communicated to us, the unwashed masses waiting for care, and there seemed to be no sense of urgency anywhere within his department. I told him waiting 24 hours for care was  unacceptable and there had to be a way to insert senior citizens and kids into a higher priority after waiting for hours. I related that during our wait a seemingly healthy young lady sat down next us and got on her cell phone. It was unavoidable not to hear her telling a friend that she was here because she felt down and a friend she spent time with had Covid. I asked why wasn’t she given a mask when she reported that. He said that they couldn’t force people to wear them. Oh, she was seen after a 45-minute wait. He apologized and said this was that dark underbelly. He himself had spent 48 hours the past weekend in a Boston emergency room with his father after he had fallen. So, there was a lot of acknowledgment that they knew they had a problem but no fixes. I told him I was leaving in 45 minutes if not called and that’s what happened.

Off to Second Grade

We had been sitting next a gregarious 80-year old guy for most of the 26 hours and, typically, my Favorite Panamanian had made friends with him and his wife. He was in for a heart attack but was kept waiting as the drug addicts and street people were taken care of. As we were packing up to leave, he suddenly became confused and was no longer lucid. That finally got him seen, I hope he’s okay. A dark underbelly indeed. We were back at the Urgent Care facility again today where we were seen immediately as they cringed at our experience over the past couple days. My wife is feeling better but incrementally. The missed night’s sleep and meals certainly didn’t help. The system is broken. On a decidedly more upbeat note, today marked the first day of second grade for the FBR which she was very excited about. We received these pictures during our time in purgatory and that helped more than anything. My “kids” were equally pissed off at the treatment their mother received and my son told us we need to come up to their hospital in the future to get away from the big city woes. I talked with the insurance company today who said that would be fine. A crazy world we live in.

Definite Morale Boost

One movie fell in my A-Z watch (tried last night but kept falling asleep for some reason), a most definite keeper: Four Weddings and a Funeral, one of my absolute favorite movies of all time, love every character

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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

Drafty Paradise Followed by Nadir

Every good thing must come to an end, even the very best of times. That doesn’t make it any easier. At least we sent this episode of nirvana off with a memorably lofty event (except for the whole indoor plant destruction). The FBR’s parents, fresh off their return from Scandinavia, arrived Saturday to reclaim parental control ending the two weeks of granddaughter supremacy in our house. They chose to spend the weekend with us which engendered a visit by my son and his family for the past two days. I did say “lofty” didn’t I?

Farewell Time

Before we could get to that reunion though, we had an element of the Washington Chapter of the Panamanian Mafia stopping by for a visit. We hadn’t seen them in a long time, my son and the ABFA’s wedding, as a mater of fact. They were coming up to visit Boston for the holiday weekend. They had their fifteen-year-old daughter along who was just a baby when Wingman and my daughter married. It’s not that we needed another reminder of how old we’re getting but it was great hanging out with them Friday night. I was especially glad for my Favorite Panamanian who relishes opportunities to speak with a bona fide countryman. We spent a delightful interlude on Deckzilla, to include the first use of the lights this summer as the evenings are arriving a little earlier now. I took pity on the daughter as the adults submersed ourselves in reminiscing and suggested she join the FBR in the Man Cave for movies. I received a grateful look as she left Deckzilla. A great evening with old friends.  

Visiting Friends

Deckzilla Time

The FBR was very excited to reunite with her parents on Saturday. To reduce (or at least mitigate) the number of “How long ‘til they get here?” questions, I escorted her to her favorite Worcester playground. She made the obligatory three friends while we were there. When I told her it was time to leave, she employed her usual delay tactic of declaring a need to see the turtles in the park pond. She made a detour in an attempt to join a flock of geese and we were ultimately rewarded by seeing what has to be the biggest snapping turtle within the city limits. It was huge! She also got to feed it when a semi-sketchy guy gave her some peanuts.

One Last Playground Trip

Trying to Join

She was encamped in her usual spot in the Man Cave when her mother surprised her late that afternoon. It was immediately evident how much they had missed each other. Some serial hugging with both my daughter and Wingman followed. Since my Favorite Panamanian was still reeling a little from the energy expended over the past two weeks as well as the Panamanian Mafia gathering, we opted to go out for dinner. We went to Val’s which is where we hosted a baby shower for my daughter when she was expecting the FBR. There was a jazz ensemble playing right next to our table which added to a very nice evening as the two new arrivals fought off jet lag from their European adventures.

FBR With her Mom

3 Generations of Beauty

Dunner at Val's

Sunday marked the highlight of the weekend as we expected not only my son and his family but Great Aunt, Keene Friend, and the Cantankerous Friend. Since my son was coming down to hang out with his sister, he decided it would be a perfect opportunity for the family fantasy football draft. We decided to resurrect this league since the grandkids are at an age which allows at least the beginnings of the free time the commissioner, my son, needed. We had a lot of fun with this in 2014, the last time we attempted it. The granddaughters were huge fans, not because they know anything about football but because it meant they were reunited. They made the most of it.

Draft

We held the draft out on Deckzilla which accommodated the large group as well as the ever circulating granddaughters. We have a couple of Soxfather’s nieces/nephews joining us in the league and they were the only ones drafting remotely. Some people were taking this a lot more seriously than some of the others. I pulled a real “boomer” moment when I thought I was being fully prepared and printed out a list of the highest rated players. After the Cantankerous Friend reminded me that I needed my computer to make the draft, I opened to the screen to see the list I had printed out readily available, updated as picks were made. It’s not as if printer ink is that expensive or anything.

BR3 is Unimpressed

Post Draft Dinner

The more serious players were a little disconcerted when the draft went as fast as it did. We amateurs were pushing the pace. I’m not saying we didn’t put as much thought in as was needed but you can make your own assessment. I thought it was cool that the highest rated available players would magically appear on the screen instead of having to consult my now obsolete printed leaf of papers. While all this activity was going on, my Favorite Panamanian was preparing a veritable feast which went down as soon as the draft concluded.

First Root Beer Floats Ever for the Granddaughters

Monday Morning Cuddles

Before all this occurred, we had the unfortunate plant incident referenced above. Since Riggins was joining the festivities, we had to replace the living room carpet. His claws have a tendency to lift threads out of it so my Favorite Panamanian directs its removal and replacement by its predecessor. I thought I was doing an excellent job storing the rolled-up carpet in the dining room. I was turning to return to the living room when Keene Friend frantically told me to look to my right. Instead of doing the smart thing and doing just thought, I sent him a quizzical look. That look was interrupted by a large crash as one my Favorite Panamanian’s beloved indoor plants was smashing to the floor. Yikes. Keene Friend said he had hoped it would fall towards hm but that wasn’t to be as I entered my wife’s doghouse rather firmly. She is starting to talk to me again as I write this, a full day later.

Cinnamon Roll Crew

The best part of the entire day followed the draft as we gathered for the meal. I looked around the table and realized, once again, how fortunate I am blessed in life to have all these people close to me. I consider everyone there family, even if we don’t share any blood. There’s a time to bask in assembled excellence and this gathering was a perfect example of that. It didn’t hurt to have all three granddaughters flitting around. The only problem is that these gatherings don’t happen often enough.

The Pack Out

Last Departure

Miss Them So Much

Now, as to that titular nadir (other than the smashed plant), that happened this morning, after the obligatory hojaldra breakfast, the pack-out. The two cars in the driveway were cars fully loaded with all the regalia young children require. The FBR’s load was exceptionally larger than her arrival since she’d spent the last two weeks shopping with her abuela. For some reason I was getting all misty eyed despite the prospect of sleeping in for the first time in a while. I’ll miss having the 7am kamikaze attack.

Five movies (two since they left) fell in my A-Z watch, all keepers except one: The Forgotten, wouldn’t have made cut except for the cool getting yanked into the air effect; For Love of the Game, Costner and baseball and a perfect game against the Yankees, what’s not to like; Forrest Gump, still great after all those viewings; Fortress, used to love this movie but hasn’t aged well, cutting it; No Hard Feelings, new addition to the library, Jennifer Lawrence can do anything, so funny.

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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