Well today has been an improvement over yesterday. My niece and her husband returned to New Jersey safe and sound after the Boston Marathon. They were safe yesterday and I would like to think they are safer at home. The whole family is relieved and also saddened by what happened.
My niece posted a photograph of herself and two running friends, right past the finish line. It was hard to believe that within a few minutes after that the bombs went off. Their friends all made it safely home as far as I know, and that is by judging by what their Facebook pages said.
I slept fairly well last night and woke up in good spirits. Bill was up and doing his thing and soon after I showered and had my coffee a text from Juan came through, asking if he could stop by. Of course he could stop by. Bill didn’t mind and neither did I.
I did have some errands to run beforehand so Juan would have to accompany me on my rounds. It wasn’t so bad. One was a trip to the grocery store and the rest were on Washington Street.
I ran into Julio yesterday before all the shit went down and he asked me if I still had his pocket sized bicycle pump. We had a good talk. He’s a new guy, more mature. Good to see him one on one since when it with the wife and kid they all vie for my attention. I can take them all one at a time, but three on one can be overwhelming, sometimes joyfully so.
And Juan was pretty funny this afternoon. Where he gets his cutting remarks from, I don’t know. He did grumble when I asked him to hold a cigar when I ran into a store. I reassured him that it would only make him look ‘butch’.
We came back home, Bill getting ready to head out while Juan and I watched Archer which we had on the DVR. And then just like that, my two favorite guys headed out. Juan to go get some lunch and Bill off to Manhattan.
I was fine with it, not that I had any say in the matter. Julio was also in Manhattan so I didn’t see him today. Still I have the bicycle pump should he call or text me again. I’ll be around.
“It’s my 30th birthday…” said Rachel, the sister in law of the bartender. Rachel is from Charlotte, South Carolina. “Happy birthday Rachel.” “thank you. It feels different being 30 and all…”
“30’s nothing” I tell her and ask her and her friend to guess my age.
“42”. That was nice to hear and their faces dropped when I told them that I was 50. They didn’t ask for proof so they could think I was putting them on, they were tipsy and celebratory.
I am old enough to be the father of several of these twenty somethings. It’s humorous.
They’re not like Juan though. Juan does his own thing and doesn’t care what other people think mostly.
I wrote ‘mostly’, since no matter what, people do care what others think of them.
Juan doesn’t even give a shit about what I think of him. Off to Leonardo and the Principal Crawfish for him it is.
I worked Saturday night and Rand came by and RoDa was managing so that made for a good night. It was busy enough and as usual the stage fright or anxiety I get before going to work dissipated. It was a good staff and fairly crowded. At one point as I was winding my way through the crowd (I mangled the nail on my left hand and needed to get nail clippers from my bag) I tried to maneuver my way around a short woman. She was trying to maneuver out of my way and I wound up grabbing her breast.
I immediately apologized and she accepted the apology, knowing that it was purely an accident. I’m sure I blushed and when I returned to my spot on the floor, I mentioned to RoDa and Rand that I just grabbed a woman’s breast and that it felt like a bag of sand. Rand got the joke immediately and explained to RoDa that it was a line from the 40 Year Old Virgin. For me it was the first and probably last time I’ve ever touched a woman’s breast. I’m pretty sure I was bottle fed when I was a baby so I didn’t even see my mother’s breasts at feeding time.
I worked the whole shift and came home and tried watching Saturday Night Live with Melissa McCarthy as the host. It looked funny and decided to hold off from watching it so I could see it with Bill and or, Juan. Once again I slept really well and woke up refreshed. Bill was driving from Atlantic City and after that headed to check in on his mother. My anxiety kicked in again as the day progressed, I ran a few errands but mainly stayed indoors until it was time to go.
I was scheduled to work at 6:00 so I had dinner around 5:00. I walked up Washington Street and started seating people almost immediately after getting to Maxwell’s. There is a Sunday evening special which goes from 5:00 to 8:00 and there were a few families taking advantage of the three course meal plan. Bands were scheduled in the back room and the restaurant was busy but not excessively busy. Allie stopped by for dinner with his friend Kevin. Allie is an old friend from Maxwell’s and it was good to see him, albeit worrisome since he was walking with a cane.
And Allie was let go from his job last week as well. He’s older than Bill and myself, but has a steadier head on his shoulders so he’s probably prepared for this type of thing. Bob Bert also came in for dinner and it was cool to have a few words with him. I actually had a dream that had Bob Bert on a beach, a few feet away from Brian Jones and Keith Richards. I told Bob about that and he said it would have been cool if it were true. But Brian Jones died in 1969 and Bob being a couple of years older than me would have been an adolescent then. Of course I am reading too much into that.
Bob left and soon Allie and Kevin did too. I made friends with a German couple who were there to see some American rock and roll. Nice couple, they were headed to Florida for the rest of their holiday and enjoyed Maxwell’s very much. I consider myself the cruise director onboard the SS Maxwell’s, perhaps from watching Love Boat too many times when I was growing up- but I feel so Lauren Tewes when I am at the door.
Today was the day that spring finally arrived and after doing laundry, I took a walk around Hoboken, winding up by the river where I sat and continued reading ‘Across the Great Divide’, Barney Hoskyns book about the Band. I don’t really care for the band, I just enjoy Barney’s writing. It has gotten me to listen to their music, primarily their well-known songs, which is better than nothing I suppose.
