Lovely Weekend

 So our friends from Stoke were in town, staying at the Palms Hotel, (not the Royal Palm, as I learned later) and Wifey and I met them at South Pointe. Wifey and I arrived and the skies were threatening, but the host assured us the rain had passed. It was beautiful -- right on Government Cut, watching the boats go by, but on Thursday evening, none of the behemoth cruise ships were there.

Wifey actually got a prosecco, and I my usual martini, and we toasted our blessings. Sandra and Dave arrived, and it was a lovely reunion. We met 18 years ago, under strange circumstances. We were on a Med cruise, and D1 became friends with 2 British girls, Sorrel and Esther. Sorrel is Dave and Sandra's only child.

On Mykonos, D1 sliced her ankle VERY badly, requiring a taxi ride (no ambulances there) to a clinic, and a stitch up from an Italian trained doc. Thankfully, the coral slice missed a vessel, or things could have gotten much more dicey. But still, we got her back to the ship, and I went to the clinic to borrow crutches. Nope -- they had ONE !!! pair, and it had been given out earlier. to, strangely, a Miami lawyer who broke his ankle on a rented scooter. Really -- no other crutches?

Well -- Sorrel had an answer. Her Dad Dave had lost a leg to cancer as a young man, and traveled with a special cane and had an extra set of crutches! Of course D1 could use them -- and so we bonded with them. Also, Sandra, a nurse, was kind enough to do D1's wound care, and sat with her so Wifey and I could see some more sights. Dave is a doc in England, and was terrific, too. A very lovely friendship developed from D1's injury.

We've stayed in touch over the years. We never made it to Stoke, but did meet them in Ireland for a very fun few days while D1 was visiting the girls in their town. Dave and Sandra, and Sorrel and Esther, have stayed with us, and one time I met them in NYC, on a supposed couples' trip. Alas, Wifey missed out on account of her back pain, so my sister Sue filled in "There will be a substitute. Dave: A prostitute?" Yes -- we share a sense of humor.

Anyway, our teen girls are now grown ass women -- Sorrell has two boys, married to young Dave, to distinguish him from Old Dave -- and D1 has one and another on the way. Lovely to pass through life together.

After dinner, we drove to D2's apartment, for a nightcap, and to fetch Betsy. Wifey had to drive, on account of the drinks. and I directed her to the Royal Palm -- which Sandra and Dave recognized as NOT their hotel. The correct one was just a mile away.

Yesterday, I drove to Shorecrest and spent a delightful few hours with the Little Man and his parents. Joey was building his bed, so he can relinquish his crib to his baby brother, due to join the band in July. He cracked us up actually helping -- he loved hammering some pieces together, with his VERY handy Dad, while his NOT handy grandpa watched.

From the youngest family member visit, I drove to the Palace to see the oldest: my suegra. She keeps on rolling along, like Ole Woman River. There was another awful odor -- I ignored it for an hour, and then had to leave. Wifey's less sensitive sense of smell served her well.

I had dinner plans with Dr. Captain Kenny. I arrived early, and heard a hearty hello from the bar: my urologist Dr. Bob. He was meeting his brother and sister in law, and came over to chat with Kenny and my. It occurred to me I was with one of my oldest friends, along with the man who knows my physically better than any other man. Laughter ensued -- nothing like a good prostate rectal exam joke to bring out humor in men of a certain age.

Today is a chill day. We still have the horse sized dog -- D2 and Jonathan are due back from Austin tonight -- I'm guessing they'll be too cream crackered, as the Brits say, to come fetch her. So the Betsy return will be tomorrow.

So a lovely weekend -- may there be more and more of them.