Back To Marital Bliss

 So her fourth and final evening on the beach was last night, and Wifey is due back tonight, after solving the last of the world's problems with her friends. I spent my final evening alone on the couch, eating the second of two BOGO Carrot Express wraps I had bought the night before on UberEats, after declining Mike's offer to go to Canes/Syracuse.

I've been nursing a dodgy hip, and have been trying to rest more than usual -- my 3 mile walk have been under one mile. I noticed a stabbing pain 2 Saturdays ago, when I bent down without bending my knees to fetch something on the ground, and should have known better -- even my twice weekly workout sessions are no match for my family birthright of bad hips.

My California sister was born without the top of her hip socket, and kind of miraculously walked for a few years without it -- she was so lithe that the ball sort of just worked in the joint without being surrounded. She developed a limp, and was one of the earliest pediatric patients -- this was early 50s - to get an artificial joint, at Columbia-Presbyterian in Manhattan. She was laid up for months, and soon after being released from crippled child status, broke her weakened leg bone -- adding to the misery for another few months. But amazingly, the implant is still the original -- now well over 70 years old. She's needed new hips for years now, but has put off the surgery for fear of rehabbing by herself in her small Cali city.

Anyway -- we learned years later that bad hips was maternal -- my Mom had both of hers replaced, in her 70s, when that was still major surgery, requiring weeks in a rehab hospital. I hear now you leave the surgicenter the same day, if all goes well, and they have you up and walking within hours. Wow. Science.

Both Ds have dodgy hips, too -- D2 was diagnosed with "clicking hip" which, as the name implies, means you can sometimes actually hear her walk by. But thankfully neither has had disabling issues.

And so it's been with me -- I had an issue a few years ago, and PT set me right. I'm hoping the left joint will get better with rest -- if not -- I'll see one of the private PTs at my gym -- well worth paying for rather than navigating the typical insurance approval maze. Worst case: I'll need one or both replacements, too -- the good news is Baptist has some new wunderkind with a Dutch name who ALL of the local Boomers use for their new knees and hips -- Vandervenn, I think. I hope to avoid seeing him.

So -- I chilled after my workout -- Jonathan had me avoid twisting movements to be spared the knife-like jabs to my groin -- and Bo was a most able companion. I did some investment stuff -- it still cracks me up how market movements routinely now make or lose me more money in a single day than I earned in a full year as a young lawyer in 1986. Really 1986 until 1992 -- the inflection point in my financial life.

I handled some stuff for the Ds, too -- even though they're married to a CPA and MS in Management who is in Private Equity, I handle their joint stock accounts, and Jonathan, who deals in accounts with many more zeros than we have, has praised my abilities. I wish I could claim creativity, but instead follow my guru, Warren Buffet. I only invest in companies I understand, and go long.

I also get advice from a comical corner -- the Catholic Church! My one remaining Financial Advisor Pat sits on the main investment board for the national Church -- he's a former altar boy from Pittsburgh and has kept active his whole life -- and shares with me advice he gleans from the really big Catholics. 

Pat's suggestions have been wonderful. Back in 2002, when we started working together, I would typically buy companies in chunks of $10K. One day Pat said "We need to double down on this one -- let's invest $20K in this California fruit company -- Apple." Well that $20K has led to 7 figures -- the Ds and I still have healthy amounts, and our charities have received healthy 6 figure pieces over time. No matter what other advice Pat gives, and today he manages just a small amount of our portfolio - Apple, and later Eli Lilly, were HUGE winners. It's funny -- Pat is skinny but had me invest in Lilly because of fat people -- and it has worked out wonderfully.

I ended up watching the end of the Canes game on ACC Network -- they had a rare win, versus a crappy Syracuse team -- and then called it a night.

Today I'm having lunch with D2 up near the Shores, and then fetching Little Man and driving him to Leggo Camp "Weggos" and then heading back South. I'm meeting Norman and Barry and maybe Jeff for dinner near our Bible Study class at 7:30 -- tonight we will learn about the Mishnah, part of the Talmud.

It's funny -- I had a long talk with an old friend the other day, who said she was a lifelong atheist, but now, approaching 60 -- she goes to Bible Study -- but hers includes the Son as well as the Father -- she's Catholic. We agreed that our formerly anti-religion biases were really, ultimately, narrow minded -- we both get wisdom and comfort from the religions of our childhood. I knew this woman when she was leaving a long term lesbian relationship to give dudes a chance -- she's now been divorced from a Y chromosome person and is happily married to another -- with a grown son -- so she was no Church Lady as a young person.

We agreed wisdom is the ability to keep an open mind and change.

So off for the day of the homecoming -- just in time for Valentine's Day. We often spend it with Mike and Loni, and Loni scored us some reservations at Beauty and the Butcher in South Miami. It will be nice to talk of old times and grandparenting and love gone by and still to come -- ah -- married life.