Of The Lord and Man

 So Sunday afternoon I headed over to the Gables Club, for Max's shiva. Wifey skipped out on account of she felt she had enough funeral related activities for awhile, but when I arrived I met Eric and Dana -- looking through old Beach High yearbooks where Dana spotted relatives. Sadly, they couldn't stay -- they had a SECOND shiva to attend, for a 50 something nurse who dropped for an aneurism. Eric said it was his first double header shiva -- would he get shiva points? I noted that "Shiva Points" would be a great name for a Death Metal Klezmer band...

Anyway, I was so happy and proud of Eric and Dana -- the drive from Boca to Gables was well over an hour, and they did it to honor our dear friend Norman. Later on, before the service, Paul and Patricia came, too, from Aventura, another monumental schlep -- also to honor our dear friend. Barry and Donna had driven down the night before, from Broward.

And it occurred to me, it's no coincidence that those in my inner circle all did this. Basically, to be in my inner circle, you have to be a great parent. No excuses for not being. And you have to love and be loyal to the other members of said circle -- even at great inconvenience and annoyance to yourself.

I ended up staying 5 hours -- talking with Norman about old times and current, and his amazing siblings and some nieces and nephews. We realized connections -- Norman's niece and nephew Max and Stephanie live blocks away, and share close friends with D1, who are also Devonwood neighbors.

We reflected on the amazing life of an amazing man -- one who gave so much of himself to those he loved, always with total optimism.

I think of his sayings all the time -- a key one being that "a problem that can be solved with money is NOT a real problem." Of course, as my friend Mirta points out, that is spoken by a man WITH money, but even someone without can borrow, beg, or steal money if needed. Some problems surpass what can be solved.

Yesterday our affable Israeli locksmith Kobi came over -- to fix a broken door to the pool and replace the last of the original deadbolt locks on this house of many doors. The house has 20 doors, not counting the garage one. Each has a deadbolt, and amazingly, some of them have lasted nearly 30 years.

It's funny -- we moved into a "new" house -- it was just 3 years old. And then decades happened. As Willie Nelson wrote and sang, it's funny how time slips away...

Speaking of which, the news came about the death of Roy Black, probably the best criminal defense lawyer in the US. He passed today, at 80. I met him several times -- he was truly an amazing lawyer. He referred us a med mal case once, which turned out to NOT be a case, and that was it. The reasons no more referrals came are comical, but for the time being, must be kept out of public view...

The week before, another top lawyer , Bob Josephsberg, died as well. He dropped at a conference table during a deposition -- at 86! I can't decide if his death was better or worse than Nelson Rockefeller's back when I was in high school. I just recall that the former Governor and VP's death didn't make his wife Happy very happy...

The point is, as John Donne knew, we need not worry about for whom the death bell tolls -- it tolls for all of us, eventually.

And if we can have lives like Max -- well -- that's as good as it gets. And for me, having the kind of friends I have, and who they are -- that makes the journey truly exquisite.