Buy the ticket- take the ride! From March, 2017

 -As our daily “habits” begin we made the coffee early this morning. There was a follow up to a New York Times article we read a few weeks back in the Sunday Style section another “habit” -It was written by a young woman named Amy Krouse Rosenthal. She was terminally ill and wrote her modern love story “You May Want to Marry My Husband.” She extolled his virtues and told about their love together. She wrote it as an obit to herself. It read like an ad for a singles website that would be flooded with followers. An abbreviated life, albeit lucky in love.

There are so many cliches galore about hanging with people who value you and bring you joy-and in turn staying away from people who set fires and have mastered the art of playing the burn victim. Make a “habit”of choosing the people who cover your back as you traverse through curves in your terrain. Stay very close to “side of the road people,” you know the ones who pull over to text you and let you know that they put an extra leaf in the table, called for rental chairs and are including the people with no where to go for Passover. You never know when you will fall upon your greatest lessons- perhaps from a stranger- RIP- Amy Krouse Rosenthal.

We’re having a par-tee
We’ll call in your fans.
No one can catch you,
Through your 40th day stance.
J is for jeopardy with buzzer in hand.
E is for everything you just understand.
O the opportunity you championed indeed.
P for how purposeful with the board you succeed.
A as your answers come with quick rapid speed.
R your resilience which puts you in the lead.
D so determined you run thru the topics
Y we’re in awe cause you’re hardly myopic.
Holding the round number with another strong win,
We will absolutely tune in to watch once again.
You dazzle with your knowledge,
Your charm, your allure.
Entertaining your fans,
As you’re simply adored.

Amy Schneider you got the swag,
We are riveted by the competition,
Not one day’s there a lag.
We find you so endearing,
You smile from deep inside,
Your endless breadthe of knowledge,
Has us guffawing far and wide.
We cant wait to hear your answers,
You assuredly tilt your head,
Better safe than sorry,
With few answers left unsaid.
The show has such grand ratings,
Your devotees are standing by.
So listen up Matt Ammodio,
Yes, dude hold on tight.
A match like Amy Schneider,
Is simply out of sight.
With 38 days of winning,
The match is neck and neck.
Monday’s show will be telling
It’s down to the bottom line.
With one more win for Amy,
A new champion so divine.

Dear Acid Reflux,
Where were you all our lives?
Tums, Rolaids and Pepto
Helped our parents stomachs thrive.
Proton uptake inhibitors and add an endoscopic search,
Waiting for results clearly keeps us in the lurch.
We love to eat pastrami with mustard piled high,
A half a sandwich later,
We wonder if we’ll survive.
We take our purple pill and go along our merry way –
Hello Acid Reflux are you really here to stay?
A cough and then a tickle,
Is our stomach that high up?
Please hand me the mylanta,
Perhaps a half a cup.
Our stomachs have gotten older,
Our eyes still on the pie,
The days of a la mode, have quickly passed us by.
Let’s try the milk from Almonds,
Lactose intolerant too.
So we’re really very over the limitations in our view.
A spritz of just plain seltzer, a ginger ale was quite the cure.
Our dietary habits, we need to re- explore.
Forget the mozzarella deep fried, sauce on the side.
Our days of grabbing a slice,
Makes our stomach wanna hide.
We are up to planning dinners,
That are as bland as all get out,
Dear Acid Reflux, shut the door on your way out.

Is Everyone in the Building Making Stuffed Cabbage? Carl Reiner repost- Go to Humor kind of day!

“Oh G-d” (1977), The “2000 year old man,” enters the Pearly Gates Laughing. Estelle Reiner, his wife said it best at Katz’s Deli, “I’ll have what she’s having.” She was married for 64 yrs. to the controller at Rancho Conejo. 98 years funny, he certainly had “The Thrill of it All.” When Morey Amsterdam and Rose Marie reworded phrases to get the rhythm right on The Alan Brady show Carl Reiner called it a Wrap. So, as Rob Petrie tripped into our living rooms each week on the eponymous “Dick Van Dyke Show” it was really his “Show of Shows.”Norman Lear’s line in Carl Reiner’s 2017 documentary on aging, “If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast, was how he lived. So today Carl, we’ll have our coffee with cream and a little oatmeal in your honor. His credo was “ find your hammock and live in the now.” The transition of time in between “ok, it’s over, to what’s next, is when his productivity kicked in. HBO featured the documentary- “on demand” it if you can.The cast of characters, the best of the best. Mel Brooks is hysterical, Dick Van Dyke dances, Norman Lear is brilliant and Carl Reiner’s direction and hosting ever so warm and welcoming. When it was filmed in 2017 they were all Nonagenarians. One thing distinctly portrayed in this work of long livers is that they were passionate and fell in love with lots of things. So Carl we imagine as you enter the pearly gates, we will hear you say to G-d, “so Divine One, if you were commanding a performance your timing was propitious as “The Russians are coming, The Russians are coming”- in this “Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. I will pass the baton on to my son Rob and remind him of the line written in 1963 for “it’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. “And in a democracy, it don’t matter how stupid you are, you still get an equal share.” RIP Mr. Reiner well done.

Dear Kindly Dr. Fauci,
We are here to check back in.
We are doubling down our pleading,
We really need this win.
The world’s in massive chaos,
Relaxed our protocol.
We need to get back with it,
Heading toward another fall.
With strength and determination,
We hope to win the race.
This virus has no limit,
Spreading at a very rapid pace.
The world has lost an order,
Losing our grip and fast.
Your team’s in rapid motion,
Working it en masse.
Words backed with so much knowledge, are proving to be true.
The virus will approach, not just a chosen few.
“I told you so” resonated loudly, we took you at your word.
Your conviction based on research,
Will help to get us “herd.”
So again we’re here pleading,
With one knee on the ground.
Please give us some direction, until some precedence is found.
Nothing short of masking,
We have followed the routine.
When we are out and about, no precaution in between.
As in “better safe than sorry,”
We will play by all the rules.
With thanks and clear devotion.
We’ll implement the tools.

So long to Marilyn Bergman- BH
“We found we must be more abstract when writing for film,” she said, “because film really speaks more to the preconscious part of the brain, the part of us that dreams.” RIP Marilyn Bergman.
Nothing will be the “Way it Was!” You were no “Ordinary Miracle.”
Certainly not in “The Windmills of our Mind.”

Cut to an evening spent at Carnegie Hall listening to Michael Feinstein croon the songs by Marilyn and Alan Bergman. “Never say Never Again.”

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 into our inner souls and boogie, oogie, oogied. A little, vodka -vu den? 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.🙏

Our ability to discern what is safe and what’s not.
Holding tight to our senses as they fly in the wind,
Measures of safety, just won’t rescind.
With a leap of faith and every precaution we’ve been offered,
We put on our Canadian Goose
And attempt to break loose.
We get in the car, destination unknown.
We know we need to roam out of our home.
Getting darker a little later,
Counting days through the frost,
Praying Punxsutawney’s shadow, just won’t get lost.
We are looking toward March as it goes out like a lamb,
And in a bada bing moment,
Call in a Grand Slam.
As we get through the winter,
Building sandcastles in the air.
We are focusing on better.
Through another bad year.
Minimize the negative a feat unto its own.
We’ve been sitting and binging, since
“A Place to call Home.”
Our reserve close to empty,
Time to refuel,
This too shall get easier,
We’ve taken a pool.
Need a new hobby, a new skill to learn.
Back to the premise, our ability to discern.
Let’s do it Saturday!

You bring me up with predictability. Always there to add to a good time. You have helped to make the simplest events happenings. In big celebrations you know how to join a room and get everyone up there doing the hokey pokey. When I’ve needed you most you came through. It was clearly love at first sight. You are my go to as you ask nothing in return. You listen without judgement and you know I always do my best. When we are together I let you boss me around. My biggest responsibility when we meet up is not to fall or make a fool of myself. Anytime I’ve dared to abuse you, I woke up with extreme regrets and vowed to never do it again. Whatever I adorn you with is just fine. A lemon, an olive you’re cool, you know who you are. At times when I have been fickle, you waited and knew your appeal would win out. Thank you for adding a dimension to my life that I can return to happily. And you know what, you were right when the tough get going let it be, they were not part of the Plan A that were getting the seat when my music stopped anyway. #Stoli you rock!

Nora Johnson who wrote one of my all time favorite movies died last year at 84. The movie, The World of Henry Orient is a story loosely based on her very New York City schooled at Brearley, luncheoned at Romanoff’s life. With financial indulgences galore by luck and emotional limitations in abundance as a by product of a divorced home she managed to balance a well integrated life. She had three marriages, several children and grandchildren and attained a great deal of success through her well received books. Her third, late in life relationship turned marriage came when she was 71 with a man who was 84. The net/net on their years together was best summed up by her. And I quote- ” He had said I was his last, loveliest adventure and he brought joy and magic to my life. He died when he was 91 and I was 78. Only then did I start to get old.”

Attached is a blog I wrote from April 27, 2016 – The World of Henry Orient.

My dream away movie starring Peter Sellers as an eccentric concert pianist and two young Brearley-esque ingenues who groupie their way around New York City. I had a crush on the entire movie. The friendship between Val and Gil served as the prototype for my best friendships and our shared tuna fish sandwiches with malteds, stirred by pretzels. It was based on a book by Nora Johnson written in 1964. The movie directed by George Roy Hill also extrapolated the concept of infidelity. Ah! men. I too had my own Henry Orient in high school. Mr. Schmoltze the Director of the all school musical was my man crush. Loyalty is Royalty. Good friendships never go out of style. Stay in close touch with the friends that touch you deeply. Friendship and trust are synonymous. “We’ll always be bosom buddies, friends, sisters and pals. “I’ll always be Alice Toklas if you’ll be Gertrude Stein. Auntie Mame had her priorities in order at least when it came to friendships. Sometimes we call our friend just to hear her voice. There is a treasured certainty in knowing we haven’t thrown each other out after all the tales of woe we’ve shared. Our discussions so much cheaper than therapy. We paint a picture, create a collage or write a poem inserting a compilation of shared memories. We know we will never “Walk Alone.”