Casper the Friendly Dad

Wifey and the Ds used to marvel at how I struck up conversations with strangers -- often to their annoyance, when they wished to move on. I inherited that friendliness from my mother, Sunny, who Wifey would leave alone on a bench when she went shopping, and returned to find my Mom's newest friend.

Well -- today, as I took the strange rescue dog for a walk, Casper the Friendly Dad rode again.

I turned a corner to a house where a very old couple recently moved -- there was an early 40s man standing by his car. He greeted me with "Do you live here? We are in the process of moving in."  Well, Walter and I hit it off -- talked for a good half hour about Devonwood, and our families. He's a Cuban American IT exec, born and raised in the County of Dade, and has 2 girls who were about my Ds age when we moved here. The girls go to Catholic school -- Walter is a Columbus High grad -- and he's thrilled with the new 'hood, even though they're not moved in yet -- doing some renovations.

I have a sense that Norma, the 80 something seller, didn't do too much over the past 30 years.  He's also a huge Canes fan, though he went to FIU, and we talked about Coach Manny -- we see things exactly the same. We promised to watch a game together once the plague passes.

As I left, I smiled. Walter reminded of me when I moved here -- still very much in the Dad game -- with girls like I have. Nice to see young folks moving in, and keeping our older ones. I passed Dorothy, a cultured and brilliant South African born Jewish woman -- well into her 80s -- doing well, and never planning to move.

A few blocks away, there was a family on bikes -- Dad, Mom, and teenaged daughter. The Dad asked me if this 'hood was indeed Devonwood. I told him it was, and did he want to know the history of the place.  They did.

Turns out Roland lives on North Pinecrest with his wife and only daughter, who is a 10th grader in the IB Program at Gables. He's also an IT guy -- born and raised in Miami -- family from Guatemala. His wife is from Honduras -- she was impressed when I called her a catracha -- the endearment term for folks from there.

We spoke a good half hour. I could tell Roland was smart -- went to Notre Dame, but his "real alma mater" is Cal Berkeley.  His wife went to UM and works as a recruiter there -- she said recruiting faculty is slow now. The daughter wants to go to Berkeley, too, but Mom chimed in that UM was free -- so she would be a Cane, too.

I told them all about my family, and how I married an only child, like they have. I wished luck to their future son in law. They laughed -- they already know anything short of a prince will be rejected.

We really hit it off -- and enjoyed the fact that no one had anywhere else to be. I guess that's one benefit to this time of corona...

My final new friends were a young couple walking an adorable 16 month old in a stroller -- American folks. They just moved here from NYC 6 months ago. She's from Nevada; Dad is from New Jersey. They came for a lifestyle change, and love it -- and are especially happy to be here now.

They asked me about the local schools, and I told them, with the disclaimer that I've been out of the school aged Dad business for nearly 10 years now. Their little guy looked happy to be outside -- an enormous peacock walked by, tailfeathers out, and the boy was thrilled.

So the days keep limping by. Leche Dave's had a successful run -- Wifey and I picked up lunch at LOL and brought it and the empty cooler to D1 and Joey's. We adored our grandson through the glass, and caught up with D1 and Joey from across the patio.

We had another nice virtual happy hour with Joelle and Kenny -- and soon it was time for bed. I made it to 2 am, and started watching an adorable movie called "Blinded By The Light" about a Pakistani immigrant kid in Thatcher England who falls in love with the Boss's music. It was very nice -- but kept me up to the wee small hours. That's ok -- nothing to get up early for, anyway.

We were supposed to be at Eric and Dana's son Josh's wedding in Boca tonight. They're going ahead with a small, civil ceremony. Hopefully we can reconvene in October, and party like there is no corona virus.

Oh these times...