Fab Four Reunion Plus One

Today is a Lisa work Saturday but like the last work Saturday Lisa is seeing a friend as her last appointment meaning there are plans right after.  But today since that friend is Yadira, of course Dexter wants to come and be part of whatever they plan. And so that means I have to be included too right? I even offered to pick up Dexter and drive him back home which would make it a 4-way trip for me. But I didn't mind. At least not today. Anyway Lisa just asked us to meet them at her office at 12:30 and we would do something from there. As for Johnnie and I, it really was simply the usual Saturday routine. Except that when I got to Lisa's house, he was still asleep. Mom and son must have stayed up until late last night. Which was fine. It's the weekend after all. Lisa took off and left me with a grocery list since her fridge was completely empty. To be fair, it was I that suggested me getting her stuff to tide them over until at least Monday. And to be clear, I was thinking about Johnnie really. I didn't him to be stuck without any food. And so I was happy to bring at least eggs and milk and pasta over. I was going to go to the grocery store already anyway. First we started with a shower Johnnie and I, which would make it the 2nd consecutive day I'm showering there at Lisa's. And then when we got all done, we went to have dad-son breakfast at Elysee. No matter what happens today, we get that under our belt and we're already good to go. We then went on the grocery shopping spree. First stop was Target to pick up stuff for Johnnie's lunch for next week. Then a stop at Sprouts to pick up vegetables for Lisa. After all, if you're going to get veggies, then Sprouts is the place to go. And then we dropped my groceries off at the apartment and then went back to Lisa's to wait for Dexter. I asked him to go there first since we were going to be there anyway.  And he came before noon actually. I told him about the 12:3o meet-up and he immediately asked if we could stop somewhere first to get a snack or something. How he knows Lisa well. That 12:30 is probably going to turn into 1:30 PM simply because we're going to have to wait for her.  And so I took him to Campos Tacos right down the street where I got my nachos on Friday. Today Dexter got himself a couple of chicken tacos. And got me a carne asada taco for good measure. And so we were both satisfied that even if Lisa holds us all time hostage, we'll be ok for a while.

How TRUE all that turned out to be! Yadira got done with her appointment at 12:30 but as usual we had to wait for Lisa to close out her day. And although we did manage to do some catching up <after all, we hadn't seen Yadira in more than a year> we were all HUNGRY, including Johnnie who usually eats right at noon when he is with me. By the time we left Lisa's office it was already close to 2 PM. At least I had already picked where to go . It was either Sunnin Lebanese or Hop Li. Between the dietary requirements of Dexter, which was different than Lisa's, and then of course it has to be somewhere where Johnnie could have rice and chicken, which was why I narrowed the choices down to those two. Lisa picked Sunnin from there, which turned out to be an excellent choice. We hadn't eaten at Sunnin since before the pandemic more than 2 years ago! I remember the last time we ate here with Sam Plotkin and family it was after one of Lisa's soccer Sunday games. And Johnnie would fall asleep. That was closer to more than 3 years ago then. Anyway this was as close to a reunion as the four of us <me, Dexter, Yadira, and Lisa> had gotten in some time. And our dynamic as a foursome is certainly very unique. Yadira has no qualms about calling Lisa out in such a way that makes Lisa almost deferential. I certainly wouldn't be able to get away from talking to Lisa the way she does, not without an immediate fight at least. And even today Lisa did her dispute routine... which is to say she finds a way to dispute something that I say as if she was fact-checking me, or at least trying to catch me in some sort of inaccuracy.  Usually I don't say anything. But in the presence of this foursome, I did. And said it strongly. As I said different context when the four of us are together. Usually we would talk about some current event that Lisa has no idea is going on and we would have to explain SAID current event and its implications. Today we even went back in time and brought up stuff from a trip we all took to Sedona and the Grand Canyon many years ago on a Thanksgiving weekend, even before that week was earmarked for a trip to Maui for many a Thanksgiving. To say we all have history together is an understatement. But it was good to share a meal together at least. And to underscore how this context was different, it was LISA that even paid for it, and I'm sure we'll all be billed after. But her tone was sure different from the last meal we had to split with Dexter's sister and brother-in-law. Heck we got into a fight over that one, which again underscores the difference in context. Anyway Yadira took off after the meal. I was so full. I had ouzo with lamb and if I didn't have anything for dinner, that would have been just fine I actually ended up having just a salad. It was all I would want and I chilled to watching reruns of stuff and also doing some healing audios. It turned out to be a way different Saturday, mainly because of the company. But it was still a pretty good Saturday at that. And most of all, I loved that I got to spend some time with Johnnie. THAT covers everything else.