Once there was s girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her far head—when she was good she was very very good and when she was bad —well wait control, alt, delete as far as we were concerned she was never bad- she was our one and only, one of a kind, above all the rest, separate and apart Aunt Da. My cousin’s and I were her little girls. With two daughters and 5 nieces she had 7 little girls all in a row. We were her Madeleines, she our Miss Clavell. As we walked into the room she had her roll call – Judy Toby, Bettie Ann, Elise Meryl, Roberta Mae and Amy Renee. Her world was complete when we showed up. She loved us dearly- we loved her more.A women of few needs who exemplified the definition of a family first kind of gal. She knew us all well and took a silent vow- for better or worse, in sickness and in health till her death does she now part. It’s unfathomable that we will never hear her voice calling our name or feel her arms around our waist. She set up traditions of food and candy and never forgot a birthday card. Her one of a kind giggle surrounded us with an armor like protection. As long as she was around nothing was going to harm us. She loved her babies and regaled us with Beverly and Joyce stories with every visit. Often the same ones but we never told heard we heard that one before. She was thrilled when they married Dennis and Bob and thought of them as sons and loved them. Her indomitable strength beyond all odds makes us question any limitation that might come our way. When her grandchildren Ted, Luke and Daria were born she was over the moon and filled with joy. She beamed with pride at the mention of their names. The boys are so tall, and Daria, her Bev’s little girl – did you see the color of her eyes?-Oh my she would say. She loved it when her little girls had little girls and a boy. Amanda, Rachel, Ali, Jackie , Stacey, Ilana

and Jakey – you always put a smile on her face and added a tune to the songbook in her heart. Her normal was our “are you kidding you accomplished all that and more in your lifetime?” Bella Sophia was one of two cherries on the top of her Sundae. “That’s Jackie’s little girl, she’s so cute, she said to me. Last Sunday Roberta and I visited with her and she got to hear about and see a picture of Sadie Bea with Amanda holding her in the delivery room – she said I love this picture., So Aunt Da I’m not saying good bye – I’ll let your life be an example of how –if we could own one piece of your strength, one glimmer in your eye

and one percent of your sugar filled heart we would just about have it all. We all have been touched by the latest angel sitting prominently in the first row, first seat in the sky! If James Lipton from the actors studio were to ask Aunt Da what she would want to hear G-d say as he welcomed her at the pearly gates, we could imagine it would be “Dorothy go find your table over there where Bubby Chicken has mandel bread and apple cake freshly baked waiting for you – Uncle Morty has 6 heads of lettuce and 12 watermelons that he is surgically cutting up and Sophie has been holding your seat at her maj jongg table – Rest In Peace mamala 

James lost his first tooth- he SHOWED us. Zachary’s third tooth on the bottom is wiggly. Jack is finished with his braces and Liam’s are being adjusted before school next week. An eye for an eye. The kids are loosing their teeth and growing new ones. They’re acquiring knowledge and developing their minds. We are loosing our teeth and buying new ones. Loosing our minds- no comment. 

Grandchildren are young friends who tell it like it is, (out of the mouths of babes) and call you to task. Grandpa Ira, well, just ask them, can do no wrong. He is their Batman, Spider-Man and Governor of Good Will. The kids are the common denominator that serve to stabilize our moods and help us forget about “who the hell we are” when the going gets not so great. We are safe havens, toy boxes and full out luscious,  endless love givers.

We are never too busy and always have enough energy to synergistically create one more memory worthy time of “share” joy. Our hearts have grown softer in 8, yes 8 places. With always room for one more place at the proverbial table, we change the seasons together. We put away the beach chairs and make room for coats in our closets. Their hearts smile a little bit bigger through every hug. Just for today let’s grab those precious moments. We’ll wash the paint off the back of our hands from yesterday’s art project, put away our sandals and turn the beat around in disco like fashion. 

 Hey another day to make chicken nuggets and pasta and keep the secret recipe a secret! Make it a good Tuesday. 

We unwrapped our package of tradition and history, threw our plush towel over our beach chairs and positioned the umbrella to shroud us in memory making splendor. My friend Linda and I grabbed some beach time and in old friend fashion played follow the dotes from one story to the next. With the same cadence and style our conversations typically go, we filled in blanks, shared updates on our tangential “so and so’s and left no beach shell uncovered. We offer friendly advice and hope our slant on things is incorporated in decisions that affect a change or two. One of those opaque and miasmic sentences, perhaps, but she’ll get it. Our only pause for air was sharing a turkey wrap, as we marveled at the glorious day we were sharing. This time we had an add on, a treat, a take away. Blended into the cacophony of the sounds of the water hitting the shore and the birds chirping above was a group of children at play. Their mothers and grandma were sitting close by.

Now that camp is over the beach was glittered with sand castles and the smell of coppertone and Bain de soleil. We glanced over to the delightfully noisy fuss of 10 year oldish cousins playing with buckets of water. In an of course moment, two of them were vying for the same bucket. We giggled, shared a grandchild story or five and went back to adding length to our nearly 30 year relationship. 

In a can’t make that one up moment, we sipped our lemonade, ate a pretzel and were startled by the kids grandma screaming “just give him the damn bucket.”

 I quickly knew I was about to magnify the bucket and weave a take away. In the children’s song about the hole in Liza and Henry’s bucket the song describes a deadlock situation. In order to fix the hole Henry would need the straw, to cut the straw he would need an axe, to sharpen the axe he would need to wet the stone, to wet the stone he would need the water in the bucket that had the hole. Phew! 

So just for today (through the red colored lense upon request when I had my cataract fixed) I say “let’s put our right foot in, take our right foot out and shake it all about. Then lets do the hokey pokey, turn ourselves around cause that’s what it’s all about.”Life can be a Beach. One day at a time!

Dear Mr. Berlin – We sat last evening and listened to the lyrics and music you wrote in the beginning of the century. We learned of two of your favorite songs and we agree. The opening song and closing were our timely take always. We stood for the last song, hands over our hearts and sang along. And I quote…
How Deep is the ocean?–
How much do I love you
I’ll tell you no lie
How deep is the ocean
How high is the sky
How many times in a day
Do I think of you
How many roses are
Sprinkled with dew
How far would I travel
Just to be where you are
How far is the journey
From here to a star
And if I ever lost you
How much would I cry
How deep is the ocean
How high is the sky?

G-d Bless America

G-d bless America, land that I love
Stand beside her and guide her
Through the night with the light from above
From the mountains to the prairies
To the oceans white with foam
G-d bless America, my home sweet home
From the mountains to the prairies
To the oceans white with foam
G-d bless America, my home sweet home
G-d bless America, my home sweet home

So Irving if you could pen us a tune now would you consider writing about how beautiful America was when the political arena was center stage strong and not back alley horrific. 

Assigned Seats!AUGUST 14, 2016 ~ AROSEBYANYOTHERNAME2016

The risk that we would not go through life as sisters, cousins, friends was always there. Small risk as “family” is supposed to be the everything destination. When actions thunder louder than words we pick up our Barbie Dolls and go home. We threw the spaghetti against the wall. Some pieces stuck, as were the odds, the rest fell to the floor. Hold on to the pieces that stuck- make a sauce and spread it over the pieces we can claim as ours.We learn who our friends are quickly through joy and tragedy. We get confused when people behave differently than we have when the tables were turned. Expectations get us into trouble. Reality is a hard pill to swallow. So we lick our hopefully not too deep wounds and find a seat that is always waiting at the right table.
We hold no grudges as it takes away from our pleasure. We learn the hard lesson of lose in places where winning was a close given. Embracing knowledge is no easier through hard lessons learned just more precious. We are apt not to make the same mistake again. Adage strong- “Don’t go to the butcher if you want flowers.”

Have a seat in the waiting room, it’s time to wash the last of the blueberries. Not being one who takes to endings well I’m scrapping the bottom of the barrel for the last few beach passes and squeezing the last of the SPF-45 sun block tube. We ate the best of the peaches and honeydew. Had as much Carvel as our summer, svelte mindset allowed. So we browse through the sweater dept. at Bloomy’s, but put off purchasing a new fall handbag. Really now, we haven’t cleaned the sand out of the straw bag that houses our beach gear. 

The puzzle on the dining room table that sits in a prominent spot is filling in nicely. Love the laser beam focus on the boys faces while assembling the bricks and building the ultimate Batmobile lego. 

We are not yet ready to close shop on Colonel Mustard, or Mrs. Peacock in the library. At least not until the tattoo stamp on our hand wears out from our last trip to Rye Playland. 

Keep on holding on as the Zinnias are in full bloom, the Shishito Peppers are in abundance at the farmers market and we  can simultaneously get a discount on our favorite pair of thongs and replace our worn out white jeans. 

So with Iced coffee, and al fresco dinners in tact we will go into the water, indulge in a couple of extra well done hot dogs and use a second slab of butter on our piece of corn. Just for today let’s leave the new pashmina wrapped, and not open the latest Amazon Prime delivery marked “don’t open till after Labor Day.” Make it a fab Friday. 

Hello Muddah,
hello Fadduh, Here I am at Camp Flor-ah-da
It’s not so entertaining
and they say I’ll have some fun if I stop complaining.
I went walking, with Jenny Eliasis
She developed a bad case of psoriasis
You remember Shirley Skinner
We are meeting for the early bird dinner.
All the sales people -over at the Walmarts – snuck in for me an extra dozen urine charts

Now I don’t want this
should scare ya
But my roommate has a bad case of diar-rhe-a
You remember Joanie Hardy
They’re about to organize a searching party.
Take me home, oh muddah , fadduh take me home, I hate Camp Flor-ah-da
Don’t leave me, at the casino -someone next to me forgot their beano
Take me home please and I promise -I will not make noise or mess the house with dappers (bingo)
oh please, don’t make me stay, I’ve been here one whole day.
Wait a minute, it stopped raining
I seem to like the music in the pool that they’re playing
Playing mah Jong and Canasta- who knows with bridge I could become a masta
So dear muddah and dear fadduh hold your horses cause I seem to like it better – I even started knitting you a navy sweater
Went to see Bye Bye Birdie and guess what I ran into Aunt Gertie
So for right now, hold it a minute -Cause I think I might get right in it.
I will write you some time later – if I don’t run into an alli-gator!