Double or Nothing

Today I had welcome visitors, Louise and Paul, above left: They took the occasion of the delivery of a piece of art that we had purchased from her show at RSNS to make a short visit and brought some lovely spring flowers (tulips) as well. Louise and I met at the JCC when I was active in Spin and other classes. Louise and Paul are about the most elegant people I know—and talented too.

Dear friends and family,

Just catching up: if I don't write every day I lose track of what happens. I am not sure about Friday! On Saturday—big step forward: we took the train into NYC and then a cab to our apartment. For a while now, I have only been able to go into the City if I am driven from here to our apartment or to the doctors' offices at Mt. Sinai. I think the Gabapentin is helping the neuropathy. I was sitting without raising my legs for the whole ride. The other intractable problem is fatigue. We walked to Szechuan Gourmet for lunch with Rhoda B and took enough home for supper as well. Rhoda is her usual calm self, taking in stride all that happens with her daughter, Lori, featured on the cover of the NYT Magazine this past Sunday. But there is Salvador, the beautiful grandson to enjoy, her dancing, her classes at NYU, where she now works, and her work with good students. Rhoda and I were very involved in the development of active learning at Nassau CC. Her discipline is physics, and Merwin enjoyed the science talk he could engage in with her. After the walk to the apartment, I was beat. Merwin read more of the Alice Munro story he has been reading (more tonight, I hope). Mainly I rested.

The next morning, Merwin got coffee and orange juice from Pax (down the block from us) and I cobbled together a breakfast. Later, we took a cab to Toby and Elliott's apartment, where a huge crowd was celebrating Elliott's birthday. He looked so happy. Why not? Recently retired, fresh from a month in Hawaii, surrounded by many dear friends, with his son and son-in-law and their baby Brian, he was a happy man. The food was fabulous. Catered, of course because they had arrived home only a day or so before from the occasion of the bestowal (if that's the right word) of Brian's birth certificate. Lovely story: the judge cleared the court so that only Brian and his relatives were there. Then the judge pulled a toy out of a bag, but Brian wasn't much interested. So the judge reached for a larger bag and a huge toy: this caught Brian's attention. And so it was official: Brian belongs to Eric and Derek, and to his grandparents on both sides.

When I had reached the end of my energy, Laury and Boris drove us to the Port Washington train station where we picked up our car. I was wiped! The crowd, the noise, the huge number of people, the excitement of the occasion, the food—all conspired to sap whatever energy I had. I even took a few moments to retreat to the bedroom and lie down on the bed. But it was great being there, with dear friends. Toby gave me a generous container to fill with enough delicious food for our supper in Glen Head.

Today Sonia came and in spite of being very tired, she and I went through my entire repertoire of exercises. I didn't think I could do it, but I did: she always has that effect on me. And so it goes.

Tomorrow—or maybe tonight—I will try to get back to Shakespeare.

Love to all,
Bernice