To Celebrate; To Mourn

I joked with D1's husband Joey the other night that he now joined my club -- having a wife whose birthday was around a holiday.  D1's is near TDay, and Wifey's is Christmas, and you sort of feel a bit fatigued with all of the celebration.

But we soldiered on, and though D1 turns 29 today, we decided to have her birthday dinner Saturday night, while her sister was still in town.  Of course -- it was the SECOND event of the day -- earlier the Ds friends Nicole and Scott's mom Missy had her annual reunion brunch -- a delightful event she started when her oldest was off at college.  The Saturday following TDay, Missy had all the visiting kids over -- it was a chance to compare notes from Gainesville, or Ann Arbor, or Atlanta, or Boston, or the Bay Area... The event continues, and now she also has the parents.

Missy's house was packed, and it was nice to see the parents but awesome to see the kids.  These are an accomplished bunch -- an engineer with Tesla, a budding pediatrician who will probably work at UCSF -- various marketing execs and newly minted business executives.  And a full time reporter for the Washington Post -- Perry -- who I told was probably now a better paper than the Grey Lady, the NY Times.  Perry had heard that.

Missy's reunion is a delightful glue that keeps this rising stars socially together.  I chatted with Brooke, who has known D1 since pre school.  She's a young lawyer, and is marrying her fellow Gator fiance in May.  They chose, as their venue, the new UM Student Center -- it's a gorgeous facility overlooking Lake Osceola.  I told them they needed to throw up a proper U to use the place.  They laughed.

Anyway -- Saturday D2 and Wifey and I met D1 and Joey at Glass and Vine, which is probably now my favorite restaurant.  It's indoor/outdoor in a park in the Grove, and the food is delicious and reasonably priced, and on a nice late November evening the atmosphere is exquisite.  D1 and Joey had Ubered over, and were going out after we sang happy birthday, and invited D2, but she came home with us to get in last minute dog snuggling.

Wifey and I drove her to MIA Sunday am.  And we hugged, and it was sad, but not too sad, as she is coming back in less than a month -- I fetch her again on 12/24.

And then, alas, we had a drive to Boca to mourn.  Eric and Dana hosted shiva for Norma, Eric's Mom.  Their local cantor led a minyan, and we all prayed together, and supported the family.  A few of us told Norma tales.  I shared how coming to Eric and Dana's house left me a bit confused -- I always greeted them, at the various parties they hosted, and found my way outside by the pool where Norma held court with her grandkids.  Last night -- no Norma.

But she leaves quite a legacy, and we celebrated that.

Afterwards we reconvened with Barry and Donna and their S2 Josh.  We met at the west Broward outpost of the famous Lester's Diner.  Barry is at the height of interview season for his young doctors in training, and we talked of them, and how it seems like just recently we were young professionals, but now we're much closer to our career twilights...

So we celebrated, and we mourned.  Hopefully when D2 returns in December, it will be only the former -- we'll gather on December 25 to bask in the warmth of the birthday of our personal lord and savior: Wifey.

And speaking of celebrating -- I leave Friday for Charlotte, to watch the Canes play Clemson.  I hope I'm celebrating an ACC Championship.  Regardless, I plan to savor the trip -- good football friends, and guaranteed laughter.  It can't get much better than that...