Runaway American Dream

Even though much of the rest of my 58 year old corpus is decaying and slowly failing, I am lucky in the teeth department. I believe my paternal grandmother died at 97 with all her teeth, and I seem to be on that track. I have had a grand total of 3 cavities my entire life -- and I'm not sure, in retrospect, those weren't contrived affairs to help the world travel budget of Levittown's one wealthy denizen -- one Charles Levine, DDS.  In any event, my dental experience has been confined to thrice yearly cleanings, and exams by Dr. Larry.

Dr. Larry is a great fellow -- Miami Beach native, Beach High, and then UF and Emory Dental School. He's 70, and had kids later, fraternal twins. The daughter was a few years ahead of D1 at Palmetto High, and apparently looks VERY much like her -- people used to mistakenly call D1 "Hillary" from time to time.

I was chatting with Dr. Larry today -- he became a grandpa 4 months ago -- his girl Hillary had a baby girl in Brooklyn, and we exchanged photos of our new grandkids. And he pronounced me extremely lucky -- to have both of my kids living here in the 305.

Hillary visits often, and he and his wife go to Brooklyn, but he is bereft at not being in the same city. Hillary's brother is an ER doc in Chicago, and Larry is attempting to contrive to get him home -- Larry's old friend from the Beach is a big shot at the new Baptist Hospital Cancer Center, and is reaching out to the ER doc about starting a palliative care program. Larry hopes it comes to pass.

I texted D1 about my catch up, and she responded sagely." We (Joey and I) will never understand chasing the American Dream of moving away from your family."  Now that she's a new mother -- she realizes that more than ever. Wifey is at her service as personal shopper, assistant nanny, and all around concierge.

And -- D2 has fallen so in love with her new nephew, the thought of having to have left him to go back to NYC is unfathomable now.

The Ds always said they wanted to only have kids if each of them lived nearby. For awhile, it appeared that life might have had other plans. But, thanks to the Big Man and more than subtle nudging from their overbearing and over involved father -- it is coming to be.

The truth is, I would probably have enjoyed living away for a time, even if it was just Gainesville. I applied to and was accepted by two law schools -- UM and UF. And, after 4 years in Coral Gables, I wanted a bit of a change.

My mother told me to go wherever I wished, but later in the conversation made it clear she was clueless about paying car insurance. I knew in my heart she needed me close -- even though I was only 21, I had the capacity to learn what they now call adulting, and be there to help my Mom through.

And, of course, things worked out just great -- I met Wifey instead of some North Florida girl who might have become Wifey, and I was able to rescue Wifey from a likely future of spinsterhood. Ha. Not really...

And I became one extremely blessed, lucky, and thankful Daddy, and now Grand Daddy, in the USA. I'm glad our American Dream isn't of the runaway variety...