Another Day at the Old Races

Since we'll be traveling for the next month or so, Wifey wanted to celebrate Mother's Day and her Dad's birthday early this year, so yesterday we fired up the rental Dodge SUV and headed to MJH. Wifey had invited Mirta, who was there visiting Edna's Dad Meir, and Mom Miriam, though Miriam doesn't ever want to leave her room. I stopped at Soyka, which has become our go-to restaurant, and ordered 5 takeout meals. We arrived at MJH under cloudy skies, and Mirta helped set up our picnic while Wifey and I fetched her parents. The sadness of MJH is always evident. While we were at the table, a landscaper shouted that someone had fallen. Mirta, the nurse, raced over and found an ancient Cuban fellow who was in a wheelchair, and got too close to the edge of the walkway, and toppled over like an old turtle. A young gringo doc arrived, and together we righted the old fellow and pushed him to safety. Mirta translated for the doc, and said the man was so scared. It occurred to me that we ALL ought to be scared of aging... In the elevator from my father in law's room, my mother in law was in full form. She's nearly deaf, and speaks comically loudly. A rather large Cuban lady was in the elevator with us, who thankfully spoke no English. My mother in law said something in Yiddish to her husband, and then said to me, loudly "Oy --Richard says I need to lose weight --IMAGINE if I vas her size!" The woman got off the elevator none the wiser about this awful insult, and I scurried ahead -- ignoring my mother in law as we need to do when she pulls these antics... The picnic was lovely. Poor Meir lost his hearing aid, and picked at his gourmet meatloaf, in his own silent world. Poor Wifey had to explain why her wrist was in a splint -- her recent car crash. My mother in law kept saying "Vell -- I know a good lawyer!" as if it was the wittiest thing anyone ever came up with . Still, my father in law ate heartily, and seemed in the best spirits he's been in for a long time. The rains came as we finished, and we repaired to the inside --sitting in the same spot where we celebrated my Mom's 93rd birthday, just over 2 years past. Each time I see him, my father in law asks why she had to die so soon --and I always patiently explain that Hashem called her, saying "Sunny -- it's your time," and, as an obedient person, my Mom followed commands...That seems to comfort Richard, who, at 90 in a few weeks, must think about his own mortality constantly... On the way home we bought a new SunPass for the rental SUV -- if Wifey's vehicle isn't ready by Friday, D1 and I will be hurtling up the Turnpike for D2's graduation. At another old lady's shiva on Friday, we say the Grays, the family we will celebrate with in Gvile. Their girl Hillary and D1 started UF together and roomed together in the sorority house, and we all had breakfast the day before classes began. Now, NINE years later, we plan to have dinner with them following the earning of Masters degrees by D2 and their son Michael. Michael is getting his CPA and heading to Chicago for a job -- his sister got a MS from Northwestern, and lives in Chicago, too. I'm REALLY looking forward to being around young people after spending so much time with the ancient. The balance is essential -- one needs to be among the hopeful and striving after being among those just biding time in their final years... When we said goodbye at MJH, my mother in law started to cry. She was sad that she wouldn't see her daughter for another month. That time keeps flowing like a river...to the sea.