Just Be Thankful For What You Got

So Tuesday night I swooped in to fetch D2 at MIA. Well, I was swooping, after midnight, when the Dolphin stopped me. I naively thought construction was finished, as it's been going on there at least since I moved here in '79, but I was wrong -- they funneled the four lanes to one before the new MIA exit, and so my pick was a bit late.

But there was my girl, with Jonathan who waited with her until his Uber to Aventura showed up. Thanksgiving week had begun.

We slept in, and then I took her to the optometrist. I enjoy driving her around for her Miami errands -- we get to catch up on our lives. From there we fetched a Nothing But Bundt cake for the feast today, and then headed to LOL for lunch. Wifey met us.

We got home, and D2 wanted to see, first hand, some of this fitness thing I've been crowing about, so we put on sneaks, and did a run/walk of three and a third miles though our 'hood. She ran more than I did -- my running is on a treadmill with Enrique threatening me, but I acquitted myself well -- D2 was happy her Dad is at least on the path to hopefully not dropping too soon...

Afterwards I took her for mani/pedis -- I got my first pedicure in six months, and we ran into Makenzie , the little sister of D2's old friend Harley. Makenzie had graduated UF, and was applying to grad school for PT. D2 felt very old, all of a sudden -- she remembered Mak as a grade schooler tagging along with her and Harley.

We got a call from D1, who was hosting an early 30th birthday -- there had been a cake miscommunication. Could we bring something? We could -- Milam's was right next door, and though the didn't have any dulce de leche huge sheet cakes just waiting purchase, I bought 3 nice looking cakes, and we fetched Wifey and headed to Shorecrest.

The new casa D1 and Joey was sparkling. D2 was led to the spare room named after her. Guests arrived. A bartender served in the back. Wifey and I and Joey's parents Jacqui and Ricardo were the only old folks invited, and we loved it, though Jacqui and Ricardo bolted much earlier than we did.

I loved catching up with D1's friends -- lifelong ones like Alyssa, and Nicole, and Hannah, and the ones she's met as a grown up. The weather was gorgeous, and the happy guests flowed inside and out.

Alex and Danielle came -- friends who are like older siblings to the Ds. Alex looked around and joked that it was clear Joey was always the Colombian drug dealer he suspected. We laughed heartily -- I almost spilled my Tito's, and Alex his mezcal...

I was chatting with Mikaela, a young lawyer who works for my friend Mike, and Sari, an audiologist, when Wifey lowered the boom -- we had stayed longer than the old folks were supposed to, and we said our goodbyes and left. D1's actual 30th isn't for another 6 days.

I told Ricardo his son had married a woman with an inconvenient birthday -- her whole life we have to fit in a celebration around T Day. He said it should be their biggest problem. Wise man.

Wifey drove us home, like in Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight," and indeed Wifey did look wonderful. She had the glow of being around her beloved Ds, and the comfort that comes with their having chosen wonderful men.

We know from too close experience how a woman's life can really go to the dumpster with the wrong man. Our girls have chosen well.

Today we'll be welcoming our United Nations of guests. It occurred to me we'll have my ancient suegra, born in Poland, and Wifey and David, Jonathan's Dad, both born in Israel to Holocaust Survivors. Jonathan's Mom Lizbeth and her daughter Elisa were born in Caracas, and Joey and his parents Ricardo and Jacqui were born in Bogota. The Ds, of course, were born right up the street, in South Miami Hospital. Oh year, I'm the only native New Yorker...

The Big Man has blessed us wonderfully, and today we intend to celebrate that.  I always reflect on one of my friend Stuart's sayings -- if Bill Gates woke up tomorrow with ONLY Oprah's money, he'd have to jump out of a window. In other words, if we measure ourselves against what we lack, it's a depressing enterprise.

Today, and truly all days, I thank the Big Man for all he has given us. And today, with a big feast, we get to truly celebrate that grandest of all blessings.