Paul Turns 50 - A Weekend Off

Saturday was Paul's surprise 50th birthday party. His daughter did most of the planning. It went off well and he seemed very surprised...although he later admitted he had suspected something.

We left on Sunday for our trip to Boston. I'd planned the trip as a birthday gift back when I was still gainfully employed. I chose an up-scale hotel on the Charles River, wanting to go all out on a nice place with a view. It was nice, and it really did have a lovely view, but I wouldn't stay there again. It wasn't very convenient to downtown or the subway. We found the staff to be professional, but not particularly friendly or accommodating.

On Sunday night we saw Blue Man Group. Paul's birthday was announced and the audience spoke "Happy Birthday to You". (No singing!) We were third row center and one of the blue men stepped right over us when climbing out into the audience, balancing by putting his hands on our heads. Whenever the actors came to the edge of the stage, they were looking right at us! It was awesome.

Monday we visited my cousin in Cambridge and she took us to lunch at this great Jewish deli. After that, we walked part of the Freedom Trail, stopping at the Beantown Pub to drink a toast to Sam Adams, who is buried in the cemetery directly across the street. (We toasted with Sam Adams Beer, naturally!) We also strolled through the commons and Boston Gardens. Monday night we went to Dick's Last Resort, a restaurant/bar where the waiters are surly and the patrons often humiliated. It is all in good fun. Customers are outfitted with large paper hats (think big dunce cap) with embarrassing statements printed on them, such as "I flash for cash!", "I Pee In The Shower" or "Small but proud". Last time we visited Dick's the food was just okay, but this time the food was outstanding. We had a great time there. Paul and a particular waitress spent a lot of the evening hurling insults back and forth. When we left, she was eating dinner at the bar. I walked over and said, "I know he's annoying, but he's really awesome in bed." She seemed to be left speechless by the comment, but the guy next to her nearly fell off his bar stool laughing. What can I say? I was in the moment!

Tuesday was Paul's birthday. We visited the Aquarium, then took a T-boat over to the Naval Yard to see the USS Constitution. We returned to the hotel to clean up and took the hotel shuttle (the service was too limited to be of any use most of the time) to Fanuiel Hall for our horse and carriage ride around the city. It was a short walk from there to our favorite north end restaurant, La Dolce Vita. The last time we ate there it was the owner, Franco's, birthday. We were pleased to learn the restaurant has an upbeat, party-like atmosphere all the time. The food is pricey, but absolutely outstanding. Franco claimed to remember us and did his best to make us believe it was a true statement. He and his accordion player, Antonio, sang to Paul for his birthday. It was amazing. We absolutely love that place. Remember when the Olive Garden tried to use that slogan, "When you're here, you're family"? At Franco's place, you really do feel like family when you go there. It's the best restaurant anywhere.

We tried our best to ignore the elephant in the room, rarely mentioning the ominous x-ray. Paul called the clinic when he got home and managed to schedule his CT scan for 6:30 AM this morning. I got up at 4:15 in order to drive the hour to be there to be with him. It was a ten-minute test - for which I drove an hour each way -- but I didn't want Paul to go alone. We're both trying to hide our concern from each other, neither doing a particularly stellar job. I had to go to the test this morning because I needed to do SOMETHING. I feel so helpless. The medical center anticipated that the doctor would have the results of today's test by Monday. Paul is dreading another weekend of not-knowing.

No news from my soldier. Also no job news. I did NOT qualify for unemployment, meaning that if nothing breaks soon, I will be officially BROKE before the end of July.