Traffic-geddon

So Wifey's BFF Edna is in town, and her man Marc joined her, and wanted to go to Salvatore D for dinner.  SD is our local fancy Italian place, and I always love it, but I asked Edna if she were coming back to stay at hour house after dinner.  She was not.  Well, then -- it hardly made sense for them to schlep all the way from Hallandale -- let's meet at the TOP Italian place in Florida -- which is Downtown.  Edna made the reservations.

Alas - I made a strategic mistake.  Miami's always tough traffic is worse this week -- all the rich and wannabee rich folks are here for Art Basel.  And, I also forgot, the stretch of Biscayne Boulevard in front of the place, Il Gabbiano, is under construction.

Wifey and I stopped off at Baptist to visit her ancient Mom.  My suegra is living out the typical health care deal -- uses most of the resources in the last part of life.  She's been in Baptist all week with a raging UTI.  I thought it might have signaled the end, but the tough old crocodile is improving -- she was mostly coherent during our visit, and is set to be moved to rehab on Monday.  I think it's time for the awful graduation from ALF to Nursing Home, but I guess the layers of administrators, doctors, therapists, social workers, and others will make the call.

We left Baptist for Downtown -- going against traffic, it should have been a 25-30 minute drive.  Ha. As if.  Even with Waze taking me off the Dolphin and along the Miami River -- it took 1.5 hours.  The worst was when I tried to get from Flagler and Biscayne to the restaurant -- total gridlock.  I sneaked in to the Intercontinental Hotel lot, north of the restaurant, and slipped into a free space.  Valet cost $20 -- my parking ticket $18.  So at least that was a small win.

Wifey and I walked the block to the restaurant.  The City was truly buzzing.  Bright, colored lights were everywhere.  The contrast to staid, boring Charlotte, where I was last weekend, was stark.

You either can't stand Miami or love it.  I was talking with Mike's sister Jeannine, who was born and raised here, about it.  She now lives up in Stuart, and asks when I plan to make the move. I told her if I couldn't live in Miami Dade, I wouldn't live in Florida.  The rest of the state for me -- blah.  Ok, maybe Key West...

Anyway, we found a place at the bar, and watched the crowd flow in -- very international, and very colorful. An Asian man next to me was wearing a powder blue suit painted with flowers.  He was clearly either an art gallery owner, or Basel customer.

Edna and Marc were likewise traffic stumped.  We were to meet at 7 -- they arrived at 745.  Wifey left our table and went outside to traffic controller them into the restaurant.  We sat outside, right where the Miami River meets the Bay.  A cool breeze blew. It was magical.

The food was, as usual, outstanding. Edna and Marc loved it.  Edna leaned back, closed her eyes, and drank in the breeze.  No one minded the traffic then.

We left, and Wifey wanted to walk up the Brickell Bridge, to show the awesome view, but Edna had the wrong shoes, so we all just walked back to the Intercontinental.  They had used the valet, so I waited -- we had to transfer some furnishings Edna had bought to their car - and it was lovely -- watching the young, beautiful people walk by, seeing the Centrust Building change its colors...

The traffic home was light -- ain't no one fighting to get to Pinecrest at 11 pm.  We got home, and I made Wifey and I some nigh time tea -- we sat on our porch and drank, and talked of life, and love and family -- how lucky we are.

Yes -- traffic can clog your life, but often the destination is worth the hassle --especially if there's a martini or two waiting at journey's end.