The Wallet After All

 So I, the grouchy old man who rarely drives North of the Miami Dade/Broward line, was supposed to do so for the second time in 6 days. Last Sunday we met Lew and Maria for dinner at Runway 84 -- a delicious meal and great catch up with friends who are leaving soon for Scotland, a place Wifey and I visited and loved.

And then we were supposed to go early today to Lester's Diner, blocks East of Runway 86 on SR 84. My Tampa sister and brother in law had asked us months ago to meet for breakfast before they left on a cruise out of PortEverglades. Hmmm. Breakfast an hour's drive away -- not something in Wifey's wheelhouse. But we settled on 10 am, which meant leaving here by 9, and surprisingly Wifey agreed -- we rarely get to see the Gulf Coast family -- last time was November, when we hosted a reunion. So we were set.

Ah -- not so fast. Dennis texted -- Trudy was nervous about getting onto the ship on time -- it left at 3 pm,and I knew they like to be among the first to get on ship. Could we meet at 930 instead? I called Dennis and said maybe it was better for them to simply have a leisurely morning and get to the Port without any prior appointments. One thing I avoid weekend mornings is tensosity -- having to rush around for scrambled eggs -- well -- not a critical thing. Plus, I know Wifey and I haven't gotten any prettier since last November -- seeing us in person was not something anyone needed to do. So we aborted the mission.

Wifey was up anyway, kind of early, and I asked if she wanted to go to our usual spot, Lots of Lox. She did, and so instead of an hour drive for breakfast, we had a 6 minute one. The place was happy and delicious as always -- we took a selfie of ourselves drinking coffee and sent it to the sailors -- wishing them a bon voyage. 

And then Wifey admitted an ulterior motive -- how about we head to Saks in Dadeland and get me that new wallet? The flood prevented its purchase last Wednesday -- and the Ds and Wifey seemingly will not rest until my tattered wallet is replaced.

We drove to Dadeland, and the memories came flooding back. We spent a LOT of time there when we were a-courtin,' as they used to say. The apartment complex we met was 1/4 mile North on SW 72 Avenue, and we would often walk over to the mall to hang around or eat and drink. When the Ds were little, they LOVE the simplest thing -- a carpeted circle of 3 steps where they would go up and down and do somersaults at the bottom. All the local kids loved it.

And Wifey and my first date was at Dadeland -- a fern bar called Raffles -- now a Cheesecake Factory.

The place was buzzing, as always. Nationally many malls are closing, but Dadeland has SO many South American tourists, there are always shoppers. We went to Saks, and asked a nice salesman for Cartier wallets. They had none -- and just a few small bill folds. But he suggested we try the Mont Blanc store near the food court. Alas, there was a reasonable facsimile of my wallet -- and it cost $400 -- half of that the Cartier one would have. I was happy, and chatted with the nice Colombian salesman about soccer, which I know little about, but when I told him one of my sons in law is Colombian, I had instant street cred.

In fact, said son in law and his oldest were in Naples for the soccer team Joey's brother Bob bought recently. There was a hilarious photo of our food loving grandson standing before a Dunkin Donuts counter, making a critical decision. He ended up with a jelly model...

Wifey stopped at one of the two Macy's stores for some on sale Winter clothes for Little Man, which will be handed down to Baby Man. I sat in one of the Husband Chairs sprinkled all around the store -- an excellent idea.

So the Ds and Wifey are happy -- my FD gift is done. Even though, as a comedian said: Dads are like clams. We're just THERE. You don't buy a shirt for a clam, do you?

And the plan is for us all to muster tomorrow afternoon at D2 and Jonathan's house -- for FD, such as it is. Now THAT is a trip I look forward to without hesitation...