Tag: Jessica

My Folks Go Back To Florida

My parents are both significantly older than they look or act. That’s no small compliment

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The phone just rang… or whatever it is they do nowadays. “I’m sorry. Did I wake you?” It was my mom calling from Atlanta. They are halfway home. She knew after we dropped them off at the airport I’d head back to bed. I am much more easily predicted than the weather!

It was a successful trip. They got to watch their last grandchild graduate college. They were in the studio for my 25th anniversary. We spent lots of time together.

My mom had back problems this past winter. She could hardly walk. Yesterday she went to Manhattan with Helaine and Stef. “I walked 8,000,000 steps,” she said. Later it became, “I walked 9,000,000 steps.”

My parents are both significantly older than they look or act. That’s no small compliment.

My dad who had his own back problems yesterday and doesn’t match up well against a hot New York day stayed home with me. This is what is meant when the words “quality time” are used.

What we did wasn’t as important as the fact we did it together! I’m saying that because I think we watched MSNBC for 12 or 13 hours straight. If I saw Dick Cheney one more time I was going to waterboard myself!

My dad and I went to the diner for dinner. Just two guys going for omelets.

It’s a place I’ve been going to for 25 years so as we left I started to talk to the boss and then a few of the waitresses. The conversation got around to Las Vegas and my dad took out “the picture.”

Holy crap, he carries it around!

We joked around at how lucky we were to have the wives we have. He said he couldn’t figure out why Helaine settled for me when she could have done so much better. He was joking–right?

After a full week my parents were ready to return to Florida. Their friends are there. It’s in their comfort zone. There’s BINGO tonight (which they play though both claim they hate it). Now they can rest.

There’s another trip in store for them before this year is out. They’re going to Milwaukee. This winter they’ll become great-grandparents! My niece Jessica, their first grandchild, is expecting.

Where they live in Florida becoming a great-grandparent is equal to winning an Olympic medal.

Youth Envy

In a less enlightened time we’d call this stalking. I’m an excellent on-line stalker.

Often, when writing for AppScout.com I end up researching new websites. I did that tonight with a little write-up on “internshipIN.com.” It’s a cool concept–a matchmaker for interns and internships.

Since I’m usually writing these posts based on what’s on a particular site (and without actually speaking to the site’s participants) I sometimes skulk around trying to follow links and Google hints to read more about the company and its principals.

In a less enlightened time we’d call this stalking. I’m an excellent on-line stalker.

For the last hour I’ve been checking out Arielle, Andy and Jessica, internshipIN’s founders. OK-mostly Arielle and Jessica. Andy’s a little more difficult to find on the old Interweb. They are all U.C. Berkeley undergrads.

I have spent this hour being envious and then jealous of their youth. Everything is still ahead of them.

Whether this website is their big break or not is inconsequential. They’re throwing stuff against the wall to see what sticks. That is a luxury bestowed upon the young and slowly removed as we mature and become more conservative, entrenched and fearful.

There comes a point when you realize youth only comes once. Crap. That sucks. I’d be so good at being young again right now.

Off To Milwaukee

The upstairs hallway at home looks a little like a disaster area. Clothes have been picked, approved and sequestered. I’m hoping they’ll be packed by the time I arrive around midnight.

We’re flying to Milwaukee tomorrow. It’s my niece Jessica’s wedding. Jessie will be the first of her generation (my sister’s three kids plus Steffie) to get married.

My parents flew in today on a bumpy trip, in a smaller jet, over major thunderstorms. To add insult to injury, the bumpy leg followed a long stop in Atlanta and a delayed departure.

I’d like to say tomorrow will be better, but that’s a guarantee I can’t make right now.

We fly to Chicago, rent a car, and drive north. Having all my Southwest tickets would be much better if they flew to Milwaukee. Midway will have to suffice.

I’m bringing the camera. It’s a wedding. Photos are in order.

Actually, we’re bringing plenty of electronics. There will be three cellphones, three laptops and lots of chargers and cables.

The concept of ‘all the comforts of home’ has changed over time.

Our 21st Anniversary

Much of November 26, 1983 is vivid in my memory. Much of it is a blur. You could say it was the pivotal day in my life – the day I married Helaine.

That I was even getting married was surprising. Years earlier I had put marriage on the same list with liver and opera – fine for people who had the desire, but not me. Helaine changed that for me.

Though it could be argued I entered matrimony kicking and screaming, I made an incredibly good decision those 21 years ago.

We were married in the suburbs outside Philadelphia. Friends and relatives, many traveling long distances, fought their way to the hotel on November 25th in snow! It wasn’t a terrible storm… in fact it was quite beautiful and gone the next morning. It was enough to give us a scare.

I rented a tuxedo for the occasion. Sometime the afternoon of the wedding, my friends Paul and Howard (though I suspect mostly Paul) got into my hotel room, took the black tuxedo and replaced it with something polyester and cream colored.

In an incredible leap of faith, I believed somehow I had been given the wrong tux and set out to get the right one. I panicked, called the store and went as far as getting in my car to drive an hour for the exchange until I notice another friend, Bob, lying on the hood, snapping photos of me and laughing.

At the time it was not funny.

Over time, that same tuxedo has showed up under similar circumstances at other friends weddings and (as I remember) even replaced one friend’s clothes in the suitcase he took on his honeymoon!

I’m not mentioning names because I don’t think these events happened with ‘current’ wives.

We had a beautiful, wonderful ceremony. In the photos my family is smiling and excited. They knew I was marrying a wonderful woman. Helaine’s family frowned and seemed apprehensive. After all, she was marrying me.

Everything went smoothly at the service. Even the flower girl, my now grown-up niece Jessica, walked the aisle admirably. It was only later I learned that she balked at first, only to be ‘gently’ cajoled by my sister.

I won’t tell you exactly what Trudi said to her, because I’m not sure there’s a statute of limitations on this kind of thing. As far as I can tell Jessie has grown up unscathed by the incident and my sister never faced formal charges.

My father-in-law threw a tremendous party for our reception. I remember remarking at the time how little I got to see of Helaine that night. We were constantly separated, seeing friends and relatives.

Even when the police came to tell my father-in-law his car was in a fire zone and it was going to be towed&#185, and when my grandmother collapsed and fell to the floor while dancing&#178, the party went on! It was an incredible night.

It is 21 years ago and yet in many ways it feels like we’re still newlyweds. How I could have been such a fool and resisted marriage (believe me, I did) is beyond me today.

This morning the doorbell rang and flowers, beautiful orchids, were delivered to Helaine. They are just a small token of the love I have for her – love that continues to grow, even after 21 years.

&#185 – My father-in-law claimed to have parked the car elsewhere. I totally believed him. It was all very puzzling to all of us then, as it is now. He moved the car, but it was weird.

&#178 – My Grandma Rose was very excited about the wedding. I was the first grandchild, which I suppose gave me a favored place in her life. She danced until she dropped, literally. An ambulance was called and she went to the hospital. Later she would say the hospital in Jenkintown, PA was the nicest she had ever seen and they had treated her like a queen. If it’s possible, the hospital was a positive experience for her.