Neighborly Visit

Wifey and I were enjoying a quiet evening with our Ds --but not in person. D2 was FaceChatting (tm) from Gville, so she could watch the adorable new dog Wifey adopted for her. D1's friend -- dog obsessed as all my women are -- saw that there was a male Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, one year old, up for adoption at our local Petsmart. Wifey got over there faster than she's moved in years, and fetched the dog. He's one year old, apparently, and turned in by an old Cuban couple who could no longer keep him. He walked bowlegged, and I suggested D2 call him "Bo." And so Bo joined our wolfpack... Anyway, D2 was admiring him, and D1 called on her way to some charitable meeting she attends, and so we were virtually together. We plan to be physically all together (sans dogs) 4 weeks from this Friday, when we travel to Gville for D2's college graduation. She told us last night she has reservations for dinner all three nights -- Embers, Mark's PRime, and Dragonfly, so we'll eat our way through D2's official entry into the college grad set... So anyway, a call came from the gate (every time that happens, I think of "Key Largo" --"there's an Indian at the Gate") announcing it was our next door neighbor Greg. I invited him in, and he told us he was having a 150 person party on Saturday night -- he was apologizing in advance for the noise (he hired a live band to play 90s rock -- whatever that is), and would we please join them, along with all other surrounding neighbors. Greg and his wife moved in 3 years ago. He's a LI guy like I am, who went to SUNY Buffalo, and then came to the U for a MBA. He thought he'd stay just for the degree, but fell in love with the 305, like I did, and moved here. His wife Carrie is from Brooklyn, and they have a 4 year old and 8 year old. Here's the funny thing -- Wifey never met his wife. We came by after they moved in, to drop off a bottle of wine and the welcoming kit, and Greg greeted us and told us his wife, a lawyer, was hard at work on a brief. We then named her "The World's Most Busy Lawyer." In the past three years, I only met her once, fleetingly, when she dropped off a steam mop I bought from Amazon.com (tm), and was mistakenly delivered to her house. Since she brought it by a week later, I now have TWO of the mops -- one still in the box in the garage... Anyway, Greg is a huge Canes fan, like I am. We sit in the same Alumni Section at Joe Robbie Stadium, and we were on the same flight to Chicago 2 years ago when the Canes played hated Notre Dame. He and his wife are both turning 40, and they're going all out -- band, DJ inside, a block of rooms for out of town guests and a shuttle bus from the local Marriot to get them to the party, etc... So Wifey and I will stop by -- as will our sadly moving out neighbors, Pat and Susan, whose house is up for sale. They're downsizing, as their youngest will be off to college in a year...probably moving to a townhouse in the Gables. Wifey and I recalled that WE had a big party when I turned 40 -- how is that almost 12 years past? We had a clam bake, and a caricature artist, and my old staff hired a plane pulling a banner that flew overhead wishing me happy 40. It was. Greg was a sweet guest -- saying he hoped they'd been good neighbors so far. Certainly they had -- and maybe Saturday we'll finally meet his mysterious wife. I walked Greg out, and his 8 year old met us at the gate -- on a young boy's adventure, looking for his Dad. Sure enough, the cell call came from his frantic Mom. Greg didn't say hello -- he answered "Jack's here with me." It brought back more memories -- D2 had just turned 9 when we moved here -- she's now 22. D1 was 12. Girls turning into women, before our very eyes.