Far Flung

So I fetched D1 and her man Joey in Midtown, and Dadbered them to MIA. Dadber is my term for Uber by Dad, which, according to the Ds, is superior to the better known ride sharing company. First, Dadber is free, and second, then Dadber drops its limited clientele at MIA, there are a few hundred dollar bills provided for the trip. The Ds say "We LOVE Dadber..." And of course I adore them. I am one very, very lucky man, and the children I have are at the top of my blessing list. I love them, unconditionally of course, as any normal human parent loves their child that way, but I also happen to truly like both of them. We laugh together. We GET each other. They share my most precious values. So Dadber is a fun benefit to both of us. D1 and Joey flew to Spain -- specifically the South, where they will attend Joey's best friend's wedding, in a town called Sotogrande. They'll then spend some time in Malaga and Valencia and,Seville, and then fly to London, where they'll hang with English friends. D1 became friends with Sorrel and Esther on a cruise we took when she was 16, and across the ocean they stayed friends, sharing and comparing college and young adult experiences. Sorrel married Dave last year, in Vietnam. We were invited, but declined the long trip, which, judging from the pictures, ought to have been something we did. Esther is single. Joey lived in London for a year, working as the Euro manager of his company, and looks forward to getting back for a visit. Meanwhile, D1 heads to Atlanta next Friday, for a reunion of the Yellow House Club. Three of her best friends and she lived together in a house in Gville for 2 years, after they had lived together in the sorority house. D2 and Ali now live in NYC -- Ali is a child life specialist after getting her MS. Ashley just moved to SF where she works for a startup company, and Catherine is a 3L at Emory. They'll all crash with Cath, and compare life notes on the transition fro school to mid-twentyhood...I adore the fact that the 4 of them remained so close. A week after that, D2 and her man Jonathan are going to SF -- spending a night with Ashley, maybe a day in Napa, and then driving to Half Moon Bay for 2 nights. I was the winning bid on a charity auctioned 2 nights at the Ritz in HMB -- Wifey and I stayed there in January, and it may be the single most gorgeous hotel we've ever stayed in, and we've been privileged to stay in plenty of gorgeous hotels. D2 will get to introduce Jonathan to my nephew and niece Henry and Valerie, and their furry large son Rocco. I look most forward to hearing tales of this next generation of our family bonding, and sharing notes of being raised by nutty, in different ways, parents. So my Ds are out and about, and Wifey and I are sticking around -- for now. In October we're heading to NYC for a night, and then boarding a ship with Edna and Marc, and Norman and Deb, for a cruise to the Canadian Maritimes -- to celebrate the birthdays of Edna and Wifey, which number I am forbidden from continuing to mention -- but it's a very, very big number... Then, in late October, Wifey and I are headed to Sweet Home Chicago, where we will join about 50 of our fellow Canes fans friends, and take over a pizza place Friday night before heading to South Bend to watch our boys take on hated Notre Dame. It'll be the second game I'll see at ND -- the first was a great mens' trip in the early 90s -- I arrived late, after a comical hearing in Ft. Myers, in which a Federal Magistrate was determining whether to sanction my old boss Ed (the case settled before he had to do any jail time). I met my group and boxes and boxes of leftover pizza -- apparently Mike was convinced each man needed his OWN pie -- and it turned out that one pie was for three beefy men. So this time we'll order more judiciously... So here's to a continuation of our no storm season -- it'll be 11 years in October since we had one. I bought an expensive generator and haven't used it -- I take full credit for keeping the storms away with that purchase. And I look forward to having all Ds together for T Day -- to compare tales and notes from Spain, and England, and Atlanta, and SF...