All My Bag (Are) Packed...

So last night Wifey left to spend the night with her sista of another mista Edna, who's in town for several weeks, visiting her ancient parents at MJH, and celebrating the Fourth at the Raleigh on Miami Beach.  Today the two plan to make it a threesome, and go spend the weekend up in Vero Beach, with mutual great friend Linda, who for reasons still not clear to us, moved there.

Actually, we do know why.  Linda always dreamed of living on the ocean, and in South Florida that's prohibitively expensive, and after her parents died, she was ready for a change.  So she still works, mostly by phone, for the same Miami company, and Wifey and Edna will get the Vero experience first hand.

I decided to get together with MY sista of another mista, and invited Mirta to dinner at Salvatore's.  We had a lovely time, talking about life, and people, and kids, and in Mirta's case, grandkids.  She gets so much joy from them, and her oldest Karen really adores her grandma.  Mirta sees the grandkids several times per week, and is always there to babysit and drive, especially when someone gets sick.  Wifey wants to be that kind of grandma, too, should we be so blessed.  When the Ds settle into marital and kid houses, Wifey wants to live no more than 10-15 minutes away.

Mirta has never liked too many people.  As we age, I see, more and more, the wisdom of her choice.

And after just 4 hours of sleep, I'm ready for my trip today.  Ishmael, the narrator of Moby Dick, said that when he realized he was spending too much time attending funerals, and being generally down, he knew it was time to go to sea.  For me, when more than a few months passes and I don't see D2, I know it's time to fly to the City.

We talk all the time, of course, but I still miss her.  She was hoping to come for the Fourth, but Jonathan's work schedule put a kibosh on that, so I'll call an Uber, get some great food in the Amex Lounge, and then head off to see my little girl.

Wifey was there last weekend, and helped the young couple unpack and organize in their new place in Greenwich Village.  She really, really helped.  I told the kids that Wifey is VP in charge of helping move, and I am VP in charge of entertainment.  We have a table tonight at the Strip House, a steak place just off Union Square.  I've been there twice and enjoyed it -- newer version of a classic NY steakhouse.

Tomorrow, I bought tickets to a Literary Pub Crawl in the Village.  I thought D2 and Jonathan might have no interest, but I was wrong -- they're looking forward to learning some history of their new 'hood.  And to me, being in the haunts of Dylan Thomas, Washington Irving, and others, while imbibing adult beverages sounds like an awesome afternoon.

Years ago, I dragged my brother in law along on one in Dublin.  It was great -- the young English professor challenged anyone to try to stump him on a matter of Irish Lit, with the prize being a pint of Guinness.  I took his challenge -- asked him where Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" had its US premiere.  He guessed, of course, NY.  Nope.  Boston then?  Nope.  Then surely Chicago, or Philly?  He gave up.  I told him I had learned from many visits it was Miami -- the Coconut Grove Playhouse.  I proudly quaffed my pint.

It's pretty hot in the City, so I won't get too much respite from Miami dog days, but it DOES drop below 80 in the evenings, so that will be a refreshing break.

So hasta Sunday, 305.  I have a little (25) year old girl waiting to spend a bit of quality Dad time...