Full of friendship

Dear friends and family,

One highlight of the day was Gladys's 90th birthday lunch, hosted by her nephew Todd, and held at our (Gladys and my) favorite, The Jolly Fisherman. About 30 people, we had a room to ourselves. Friends and relatives had come from all over, including California and Pennsylvania. We sat opposite two old friends of Gladys's daughter, who since their friend's death 13 years ago, have been faithful to Gladys, visiting her whenever possible. Ilona and I, and of course our husbands Manny and Merwin, were the only representatives from our synagogue, honored as special friends of Gladys's. These days I can't do as much with or for Gladys as I would like, but the main thing is that we care about each other. We always look forward, Ilona, Gladys, and I, to the monthly lunch at this same restaurant. Gladys, true to her artistic bent, had gone with Ilona to a store to pick up strands of red hearts to decorate the table. I couldn't resist twining one strand around my hair as a chaplet. Gladys read a succinct history of her life, with recollections of those who are gone and happy memories of all those who had come to her party. Later, our host Todd said a few facetious and serious words honoring Gladys: her intellect, her generosity, her spirit.

The crash was sudden and complete: one moment I was fully there, happy, smiling; the next I had to lie down. Gladys understood as Merwin and I slipped out. I had hoped to do a shop on the way home, but that was not possible. Off to bed. Soon after, Merwin left for the airport to pick up José Ramón, one of our many Shakespearean friends. Who knew back when I made my choice that a career that seemed to promise only opportunities to teach and write (good enough, one might say), would bring so much joy through international friendships? JR, a highly respected Shakespearean, is from Spain, and since he was spending time at the Folger took precious days out of his research there to come visit us.

We had a lovely late (in the Spanish style) meal. I had roasted turkey drumsticks slowly for hours in a mix of my own vinaigrette salad dressing, sweetened with honey, and surrounded by carrots and eventually Lima beans. The remaining turkey will be lunch sandwiches for the men for our adventures in NYC today. Of course, as a vegetarian, I ate no turkey. I had avocado spread on delicious bread.

Sitting around, chatting, mainly listening to JR's fascinating ups and downs (he has had and still has the residue of mononucleosis), I was comfortable and not tired. I excused myself at 9 p.m. but watched Bill Maher's 1st show of the season in bed. Before that, I had the opportunity to give JR some of the books I no longer need, and he was happy to get some that he doesn't have already to add to his personal or university library.

Looking forward to a rather busy day in NYC today: we are to see Measure for Measure, "we" being Laury, Merwin and me, and JR is to get into the line for return tickets. Either he will get a ticket or he will go to MoMA and meet us later. Laury is driving in: parking may even be possible in our neighborhood. And I am looking forward to at least a 1/2 hour in the NYPL.

Love to all,
Bernice