With fabulous spirits we danced the “oh, what a night away.” One more evening of “will you dance with me?   The music started before we got there. As I put on eyeshadow and lip gloss I listened to Julie Andrews crooning to “On the Street Where You Live” and knew then “I could have “danced all night.” And we did!  With our history of forever dance floors we stepped out, turned on our inner souls and boogie, oogie, oogied. A little, vodka and some rack of lamb was the precursor to watching you both devour the bones and leave the meat and potatoes behind. It’s always amazing when I learn the same lesson twice. Last evening I was reminded how I will always have a song in my heart for you, as you both occupy a large part of it. The music may have stopped, but our melody lingers on.🙏

So many of the old adages are now living at my front door. Cliches that I never got, couldn’t internalize or just wasn’t ready for have now come into play with regularity. Fortuitously, they serve as the bettor at our Mah-jongg table and the leathered decorated card turner at our Canasta games. More forgiving and grateful, less of a focus on verbalizing differences seems to be our new posture.  We sit down and the magic occurs. First game out we adjust our seat, call on our strategy and throw the dice or deal the cards. We leave so much more to chance. No more rebuffing what is, just fact and acceptance feel like the right paths to take. We flinch at the first interference in our game of Life–and in turn almost welcome it. A phone call from a friend’s daughter sharing the joy over their daughter’s ballet recital is typical. An interruption because the decorator went to the wrong place, perhaps. The bell ringing when the handyman comes to prepare the terrace for planting. We pool our woes and share our joys. We take home the name of a good dermatologist and flatter one another when we admire a new pair of very cool boots. Are we the lucky ones who have turned happenstance into “sheer” delight?

My parents had an activity with their weekly Canasta group called “Coffee and…” I am now getting that the “and” was so much more than chocolate bridge mix or babka. Yes mama, I’m counting sevens and aces, remembering to take the Talon and looking three cards back not to throw the deck.

I love our “and.” When I was younger and had a piece of chicken. I would eat the wings last. I savored the best for then. I now sit down to our chicken lunch and go for the wings first. I rush thru my broccoli and cheddar omelette just to get the cards in my hands. I know that the real reason I enjoy our games so, is because they recapitulate my parents activity of continuity. Well here’s to so many more days of Mah Jongg, Canasta “And.”