Time with Twila

Yesterday morning, late, Jennifer called to ask me about the serving time and so on at Koko's. As if I knew......I did! I told her they started serving lunch at 11:30 and serve their last table at 2:00 pm. Her grammy is in town, visiting from Boston, and Jen wanted to take her to lunch someplace "charming". And I was invited to join them! I didn't mind since I'd not been there in a whole day! We met at Hang Ups first and then went to dine at Koko's. Chef Hung cooked for us, always treating me very special, cooking an onion separate for me because he knows I don't care for the veggies. There is nothing on this earth like excellent customer service!

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We were talking about the capital expenses I experienced here in 2008 and her grammy could not understand why those things were not paid from our monthly dues and such, as they are at her retirement community in Fort Meyers. I explained that no provisions were made early on in our Association for these major repairs so now we must pay as we go, great sums in many cases. She was curious about what our building looked like so I invited them to come up and see for herself. She liked my place and was equally tickled that her son, Bruce, did so much of the updating and floor replacement when I first bought the place.

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They could not stay very long, however, because they had to collect Memrie from school and meet Bruce at the pediatrion's office. Bruce was going to help hold Memrie down as they did a blood draw for a work-up the doctor wants. The two ladies didn't think they could hold Mem adequately so Bruce was coming to be the firm one.

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I had a couple hours before Twila and I were going to a funeral for the dad of one of the boys with whom Mark and Justin were friends at St. Johns. Mark came up from college, near Orlando, to attend the funeral and met Twila and me at the church. We saw many many St. Johns people there, some former classmates, teachers, and even one of my neighbors. Being a Roman Catholic service, Twila and I weren't sure what to expect but we got through just fine. The communion portion took twice as long as the funeral portion, which they practiced as "close communion". Both of us were surprised by this, since we thought normally R.C.'s permitted and encouraged all denominations to take the Lord's Supper. But not having ever been before, this was merely conjecture on our parts.

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We opted to miss the reception afterward and went to Olive Garden instead. Twila loves Olive Garden and Red Lobster but some in our group do not, so this was a perfect opportunity to indulge. She is having her hip replacement surgery on Tuesday so we are tearing up the town beforehand! She had an Italian margarita and I had the strawberry one, and we very much enjoyed our dinner and time together. Two Fridays in a row spent with Twila! She told me about her granddaughters' sister-in-law attending a soccer party at the estate of my former spouse and being blown away by his house. Twila didn't think it could possibly have been the same house because why would this older man have teen-age soccer players at his house, but in putting names and faces together, Twila's granddaughter figured it out. It's all about connecting the dots sometimes. How about that?