Here Comes the Rain Again

As Dr. Eric noted on the phone last night, this has been the rainiest winter he can remember. It has -- only a few days strung together without rain, and then the northeast-looking gray skies reappear, like today. But the forecast calls for clear and cool later in the weekend, so maybe I'll get to use my favorite possession for the first time this season -- my $59 firepit, bought from Target. I love to start a fire and watch it burn, and if it's not too cold out (above 50), Wifey and a dog or two even join me. I've been at the office most of the week -- meeting new clients in Doral, and assisting my roomie in a fun case -- a rare one, where chickenshit turned into chicken salad. The clients were only in Miami -- a South American Jewish engineer who became a fireman late in life, and also a soccer referee -- beaten up at a private school after he made a call the spoiled rich kid didn't like. Apparently he's going to hire a firm that specializes in "soccer law." Really. But meeting him was worth the effort, especially since my roomie John and I got to have a few Titos and tonics near the victim's house, waiting for the thing that never happens: a dying down of traffic. The other case is one in which there's limited insurance coverage, and the carrier messed up, and failed to settle. We'll get it settled for at least 20 times the policy limits. As I just finished paying thousands for home, auto, and umbrella coverage -- money I'll never get back -- it's nice to get money back from insurance carriers, too. D1 is the world's busiest 27 year old -- she opened her practice, and when not seeing clients, is meeting with all manner of referral folks -- doctors, therapists, etc...She also agreed to teach as a substitute at the U -- she told me she loved it -- and maybe will make that a steady, part time gig. D2 is fighting a cold in the bleak NYC winter -- I told her she is now an official New Yorker -- miserable. Wifey and I are headed there in less than 2 weeks, to celebrate her 24th birthday and wonder how it was just a few months ago we took home a big baby from South Miami Hospital. In disappointing news, I did NOT win the $1.5 billion Powerball drawing. Well, actually I did -- I got the powerball correct, and will collect $4. I was already making plans for the Dave Foundation, where I would work full time figuring out which charities to give to, and setting up the new big family business devoted to tzekekah. Oh well, not yet. I figure I still have to ground out a few more shekels the old way... Wifey and I had an evening out of the ordinary -- my old friend KEnny and his wife Joelle took us to see Seraphic Fire -- a local chorale group that played in a Greek Orthodox church -- and it was awesome. They sang so beautifully -- old Negro spirituals, and other Appalachian folk tunes -- we left truly elevated. Kenny's cool Aunt Judy came along -- in from Reston, Va. I last saw her 26 years ago, and our meeting became family lore. I had one year old D1 for the day, and we drove up to see Kenny's grandparents in Hallandale. D1, always a cheerful baby, was fussing, and unhappy. When I changer her diaper, Judy pointed out that I had put her outfit on inside out, so the zipper was cutting into D1's little neck. When I reversed it, she became the happy baby again, and I became the butt of countless clueless Dad jokes, all well deserved. So into the rainy Friday I'll slog -- looking for fun, as always, and laughter.