The Big Man and His Parties

We met Arnaldo and Cathay and their family when we moved into our last house, on SW 136 Terrace, in 1990. They had 3 beautiful little girls, and the youngest, Candace, came to visit us. She was 6, and asked to play with almost 3 year old D1. It was the first time someone had acknowledged D1 as her own person! We still laugh about that.

Our families survived Hurrican Andrew together, and we grew closer. Arnaldo and Cathay built a gorgeous new house a mile to the East, and their 3 girls grew up and left for college. The oldest, Natalia, met a boy from our elementary school, Leewood (where Cathay's mom taught for many years, and taught the Ds), and married him.

The middle girl, Heather, went off to UF where she met and married Ryan. Candace, D1's first friend, went to Indiana for college, and then came back to Florida for law school.

Each year, Arnaldo and Cathay host a big post Christmas party, and we've gone each year. Arnaldo is Cuban, Cathay is gringa, and Natalia's husband is Jewish. The food is Cuban and Chinese. We eat and drink well.

Arnaldo keeps his old and new friends close. He graduated Southwest High, and each year we see the mixture of buds from the 70s. One close friend, Sam, has 3 boys who went to Harvard, and we love talking to him.

A few years ago, Sam's oldest won an Emmy as a writer on Stephen Colbert's show, and Arnaldo announced it to the party with the pride he'd have had if it was his own son.

Last night, we attended the party again, and had a lovely time. Natalia and Justin have moved back to Miami from Hong Kong, and Natalia is expecting twin girls in April. Heather, the middle daughter, is also pregnant, with another girl, so in early 2011 Arnaldo and Cathay will have 4 granddaughters!

Our Ds chatted gaily with Justin's family, and Arnaldo's aging Tias and Abuelitas chatted happily in Spanish.

We watched FIU win their first bowl game, and there was a lot of pride in the house for their coach, Mario Cristobal, a Cuban American from SW Miami who had made it big in college football.

Arnaldo gave a lovely speech, where he recognized our differences, singling out Wifey and her love of President Obama, but emphasizing how lucky we all were to be together and celebrate our families...

We left late. We left the home of a lovely lady and her husband, who is a big man in every good sense of the word.