I'm Drivin' My Life Away

As a cranky old man in training, one of the things I am proud of is my reluctance to drive North of the Miami-Dade/Broward line. Everything I need is here -- and when I DO drive longer distances, I much prefer going to the Keys. Well -- this week is quite an exception.

Yesterday I was up in Shorecrest early -- too early, in fact, so I went over to Jimmy's Eastside Diner for breakfast. We discovered the place when my father in law was at Miami Jewish Home -- old style place -- been there nearly 50 years, and with simple, decent food. We used to take my loud mother in law -- she loved the baked chicken -- and were happy to have such a close by, reasonable eatery.

Well -- Jimmy's got famous -- featured in the Oscar winning "Moonlight," and it got a bit more crowded, but now that hoopla has died down, and the place is back to a good, solid breakfast and lunch spot, with, according to D1, exactly ZERO healthy offerings. So I had some eggs and wheat toast, and then was off to fetch my dietitian daughter, for the drive up to Jupiter.

She has to visit her client each Spring, and since the client is a MLB team, I offer to be Dadber. I dropped her off, and walked around a bit, hearing the lovely crack of the bats, and the laughter of the young players. I waited for someone to ask me to change into some cleats and help out at first base. It didn't happen, so I left the complex to kill the five and a half hours or so.

I drove down the ersatz Main Street in the plastic town there -- called Abacoa. It has restaurants, shops, yoga studios. I sat in my parked car awhile, and then walked to a place called Costellos, and had a nice chicken salad and some soup for lunch -- chatting with the NY imported young waiter. He moved there with his family a year ago -- said he was bored out of his mind living there. I asked if he thought about checking out Miami - just an hour and a half South. He had been, he said, but it was too expensive and too Spanish speaking.  I guess he has to decide about boring versus bilingual...

The good thing about South Florida geography is that, if you drive East from anywhere, you get to a bridge over the Intracoastal, and then the Atlantic. Sure enough, Donald Ross Road did the trick, and I went North on A1A and found a public parking lot, by the Juno Beach pier. It cost $1 to enter -- probably the best dollar I ever spent. The spot was gorgeous -- about 30 guys fishing, and tourists watching the fishing. One fellow knew his stuff -- he pulled up 4 fish while I watched -- and one eel, which he tossed to a waiting pelican. The poor young pelican struggled to swallow the lunch, and then an older, more grizzled looking bird hopped over and literally stole the eel from the younger one. Ah -- nature...

I spent a solid two hours there -- talking to the spirits of my departed parents, and reflecting on my childhood memories of the beach -- Jones, on Long Island, and South Beach and Delray as I got older. I so rarely go these days. In fact, last month D1 and Jonathan said they went to the beach. I said -- like actually ON the beach -- that's still a thing? It is still a thing...

I fetched D1, and we drove home to Shorecrest. Wifey was there playing with our little man. He is a full fledged baby now -- nothing newborn about him. I left for home, to let the dogs out.

Tonight, another drive out of my county -- Wifey and I are seeing Willie Nelson at the Broward Theater. We were there for its opening -- Bernadette Peters -- we had clients who were her friends, and were invited back stage, where we met the tiny Bernadette and her best friend and fellow short woman, Gloria Estefan.  I don't suspect any VIP treatment tonight...

And tomorrow, a THIRD in one week drive North! My high school friend Jeff is in town from Chicago -- staying with his in laws in Boca Del Vista Mar (the fictional retirement community from "Seinfeld"). Not sure if he's in Boynton, Delray, or Boca -- but he has in tow two other guys, Jan, who runs an optical shop in Boca, and Scott, who is an insurance guy in West Palm. Per FaceBook (tm), Scott looks 20 years younger than the rest of us. He is also gay -- maybe there is something to that...

Anyway -- Jeff is too lazy to drive all the way to Miami, and Kenny agreed we'd meet at my office and meet them in Lauderdale -- Anthony's Runway 84 -- best red sauce Italian place outside of Brooklyn or South Philly. None of my fellow, former Long Islanders have been there -- they'll love it.

After that -- I ought to be done with the northern drives for awhile...Note to self, though, just in case: remember to pre pay enough miles on next car lease...