When you can't be with the one you love....

 Contrary to Mr. Stills, the rest of that line is "...make the best of it."

The 4th and 5th of September in the Juvat clan is Anniversary weekend, even if it doesn't occur on a weekend.  Why?

Glad you asked, Beans.  Way back in 1954, a dashing young Fighter Pilot and a young San Francisco debutante, said the words "I do"  on September 4th. 9 months and 2 days later a son was born. 28 years after the latter event, and on the same day, a dashing young Fighter Pilot and a young, beautiful and smart Personnel Officer said the words "I do". A couple of years after that (one must be in reasonable proximity at the correct time for the "magic" to happen, events in the world delayed that "magic", but persistence pays)  a son was born. 25 year and 1 day later (the church wasn't available for a perfect trifecta), a dashing young Computer guy and a young, beautiful, Elementary Teacher said the words "I do".

So, now you know why "Anniversary Weekend".  While the first dashing young couple are no longer with us physically, they are still around in our memory and prayers.  Also given that the Dashing young Computer guy works for the State Dept and has been in countries that are mentioned prominently in the news lately, he has been physically absent from the Anniversary Weekend a few times also.  That was the case this past week also.  He's in Hong Kong, but because of Chinese rules, animals that come to HK from countries with Rabies present (E.G. Kuwait, his last assignment) must enter quarantine in a Chinese facility for six months.  You know the stories about China and Dogs, so....They decided DIL and Tex would RTB to Rancho Juvat and spend 6 months proving he's rabies free.

But...Anniversary weekend is upon us and much like "Fiddler on the Roof"....TRADITION!

So...Little J and Mrs J had a planning teleconference.  Unfortunately, the classification thereof was way (way, way) beyond any classification level I was ever cleared for.  

Execution of the OPlan began on the morning of the 4th with a normal visit to what passes as my social life nowadays, shopping at the local HEB (grocery) store.  After replenishing the items on the shopping list, Mrs J stops by the flower department and picks up some sunflowers and roses.  My radar warning gives a little chirp as I am not unawares that that day is OUR anniversary.  But the plan was, we were going out to dinner (first time since wu-flu) to our favorite steakhouse to celebrate.

She smiles and said "It's for DIL."

The fear for my life receded. (for now)

We RTB and Mrs J asks if I have a yardstick. Fortunately I do.  I bring it to her and kinda hang out to see if I can pick up some intel on what the heck is going on.  

She shushes me away citing "need to know" and "til death do us part might come quicker than you think, otherwise".

An hour or so later, she comes and gets me and hands me a vase with Sunflowers and Roses nicely arranged and tells me to get in the truck and drive down to DIL's cabin.  It's about 1/4 mile from the house and it's still technically Summer....in Texas.  

I ask no questions.

She gets out of the car and asks me to take pictures of events for the next couple of minutes.

I took lots of pictures. These three were the only ones that turned out, I was laughing so hard.

He was invited to dinner with us that evening.  Here's a picture of the 4 of us.

He ordered a Medium-Rare strip steak with garlic mash potatoes and a very nice Tempranillo from our winemaker friends. All the wait staff somehow managed to stop by our table at least once that nigh and check on us for some reason.  Most were laughing as they left.

However, being rail thin, he didn't eat very much of it, so Mrs J brought it home for lunch.

He was pretty quiet conversationally, but, such as it was, his presence lightened the evening.  DIL laughed quite a bit, which was the desired outcome.

"If you can't be with the one you love, have a sense of humor and make the best of it"

Well planned and executed, Mrs J and Little J!

Peace Out, Y'all!