Lovely Day

 It's funny when synchronicity happens, as it did this am. I slept incredibly late (for me) -- to 9 am on account of the Skyy vodkas they served at the Devonwood Holiday party. More on that in a moment. I got up, fed the Special Needs Spaniel and helped him outside, and opened my FaceBook (tm) as I drank my first Keurig coffee. Norman had posted the great Bill Withers song video for "Lovely Day," and that is exactly how I'm feeling.

The song also brought me back a decade -- actually 1.5 decades ago. Stu had moved into our digs with us on Brickell, on the 4th floor, as our 1st floor space was transformed into Trulucks, which became our Cheers, as it we visited several happy hours every week. I became such a good customer, and brought in so many people, that Ilde, the Texas Cuban manager, surprised me once.

We had a big family dinner -- 12 of us -- in the private room. The Ds and some friends, as I recall. I asked for the check, which back then was like $1500, and was told "No -- it's on Ilde, to thank you." One of the friends, Andrea, said "Wow, Dave -- you gangsta!" I generously tipped the wait staff and left -- what a night.

But weeknights they had, and still do, an old school piano player who sang. Our favorite was Mike from Cleveland -- talented guy. And Stu would ALWAYS ask him to play "Lovely Day," and Stu and I would sing along with the chorus -- 2 martinis in. We were middle aged -- 50 -- and now we're old men -- 64 and 65. But old men have their nostalgia!

Anyway, Wifey's been going through a rough time, on account of her bad back and hips have reared their ugly heads. Each week brings different doctor appointments, and CT scans, and MRI, and new Amazon boxes with massage guns and supplements. This is our THIRD major rodeo, sadly -- the first two kept her close to home as I made multiple trips to Gainesville while the Ds were in college and grad school, and the Ds and I saw Europe without her. Hopefully this Third Intifadeh, as I call these rough epochs in our lives, is short lived.

We're off to a cruise from San Juan back to Miami for NYE, and I fear Wifey will spend most of it in the cabin or on lounge chairs while the rest of us see some islands on moke vehicles, and such. I guess we'll see. Wifey's friend Linda is planning a trip, mah jong based with a cruise from New Zealand to Australia, and invited Wifey -- late January. Wifey sadly declined on account of her arthritis.

But last night, with her literally on my arm, we walked the 10 minutes to Shayne and Michael's house for the Holiday party, and it was lovely. They had a paella chef, and he whipped up an enormous skillet of it, and it was delicious. Drinks flowed, and our united nations of neighbors all had a blast. Our neighbor Monica, divorced from a jerk she had married at Duke, is now with a tall fellow -- they have a Brady Bunch family. The husband was always quiet -- I knew he was Colombian like Monica, but very tall and blue eyed. Sure enough -- Irish Mom -- and the Dude speaks Gaelic! We shared tales of Dublin, where Mom is from. Monica is blue eyed, too -- turns out her VERY Colombian Mom is Jewish -- but she was raised Catholic in Bogota by her fleeing WW II parents. Lots of that happened, it turns out.

I chatted with Eric, a Waitian -- White Haitian. His family, from Denmark, emigrated to Haiti in the 1700s and owned the major beer company there. Great guy -- total American accent -- married a Georgia lady who went to Michigan and we joked about their team's recent travails. Great to catch up with them.

The host Michael and Shayne moved her years ago -- ex pat NYC folks. Michael grew up in Great Neck -- but isn't into football at all, so no making fun of the Jets to him.

At 10, it was time to leave, and Wifey eye rolled me for keeping a conversation going, and so I complied -- we were walking home our neighbors Roberta and Joan. But when I got to the front door, WIFEY was still in the kitchen with Shayne -- talking about cabinetry, as we're re-doing ours next year after the new roof goes on.

We walked home our neighbors, both original Long Islanders like me, and marveled how we ended up in paradise.

And then, Wifey on my arm said "You really love it here -- you never want to move!" and I facetiously disagreed -- "Nah - kind of bored with these people -- I want to move to Aventura where there are more Five Towns types." Not really.

So today we were going to D1's, but she realized a dinner she though was later was earlier, so I'm chilling here until 4. Mike is fetching me for a trip to the re-opened Mai Kai in Lauderdale -- Mike LOVES Tiki bars and culture. I love the company -- and Wifey's not up to doing much, anyway, and Loni's in Atlanta visiting her Mom before Xmas...

Lovely day, indeed...