What a great past 10 days I've had !
My wife Emily put together a 55th birthday dinner for me. The dinner took place on November 19th, which happens to be exactly 1 month after my actual birthday. There are certain people in my life that I refuse to not share special occasions with. One of my closest friends, Frank, works for the N.Y. Yankees (I'm so jealous). The party was planned months ago and I wanted to make sure that Frank would be available to go. Since he works for the Yanks, we couldn't be sure how far they would go in the playoffs, therefore, the dinner needed to be planned after the scheduled last game of the World Series. Unfortunately, because they decided to bat a broken down player ( 6 MORE YEARS !!) cleanup, they were done by the beginning of the 2nd week of October.
So, besides Frank and his girlfriend Debbie, my brother Larry and his girlfriend Colleen also were there. Larry travels all the time for work, so Emily had to make sure he was scheduled to be home whenever the party was planned.
The final couple at the dinner were my friend Harvey and his wife Jean. They were easy. No traveling for work, no working for a sports team, the party just couldn't be on the date their daughter Stephanie was getting married. I've known Harvey since the age of 10 and there is no way I could ever have an occasion like that without him.
The night was great ! Dinner was at a small Italian restaurant in town and dessert was at our home. Emily did a great job with everything. Tremendous amount of food at the restaurant and enough dessert back home to make an entire elementary school happy for a week. I think I had at least 2 of everything.
Day after the party was the Giants/Eagles game at Met Life Stadium, which happened to be my present from Frank. If I start writing about the Giants, this blog may be 10 pages long, so I'm just going to say, great seats, great time. We tailgated with a nice platter of shrimp cocktail, pepperoni, salami, cheese and crackers all washed down by some "Dead Guy" ales. Tailgating was finished off with a nice cigar. The seats at the game were actually part of a suite right on the 50 yard line.
The following week was Thanksgiving and Emily's mom and dad flew up from Florida the day before the holiday. We all had such a great time for the 4 days they were in town. My step-sons, Josh and Adin got to spend time with their Papa and Grandma. Papa played some street hockey with the boys and helped Adin practice his prayers for his upcoming bar mitzvah. Grandma is the competitive one in the family (almost as competitive as I am) so she is always starting a card game of some type. Papa and Grandma also spent the 4 days spoiling their granddog, our basset hound, Lulu.
On the Saturday after Thanksgiving I went with Harvey, Josh and Adin to the Rangers/Flyers game at Madison Square garden. Knew it was going to be a great game right away because there was a fight just 4 seconds into the game. Rangers won 2-0, we all had a great time.
All in all, it was a terrific 10 days. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family to share special occasions and holidays with. Most of all, I am so lucky to have Emily. Just having someone in your life where both of you have such a strong love and respect for each other, makes not only holidays and special occasions better, but also makes every day of my life better.
My wife Emily put together a 55th birthday dinner for me. The dinner took place on November 19th, which happens to be exactly 1 month after my actual birthday. There are certain people in my life that I refuse to not share special occasions with. One of my closest friends, Frank, works for the N.Y. Yankees (I'm so jealous). The party was planned months ago and I wanted to make sure that Frank would be available to go. Since he works for the Yanks, we couldn't be sure how far they would go in the playoffs, therefore, the dinner needed to be planned after the scheduled last game of the World Series. Unfortunately, because they decided to bat a broken down player ( 6 MORE YEARS !!) cleanup, they were done by the beginning of the 2nd week of October.
So, besides Frank and his girlfriend Debbie, my brother Larry and his girlfriend Colleen also were there. Larry travels all the time for work, so Emily had to make sure he was scheduled to be home whenever the party was planned.
The final couple at the dinner were my friend Harvey and his wife Jean. They were easy. No traveling for work, no working for a sports team, the party just couldn't be on the date their daughter Stephanie was getting married. I've known Harvey since the age of 10 and there is no way I could ever have an occasion like that without him.
The night was great ! Dinner was at a small Italian restaurant in town and dessert was at our home. Emily did a great job with everything. Tremendous amount of food at the restaurant and enough dessert back home to make an entire elementary school happy for a week. I think I had at least 2 of everything.
Day after the party was the Giants/Eagles game at Met Life Stadium, which happened to be my present from Frank. If I start writing about the Giants, this blog may be 10 pages long, so I'm just going to say, great seats, great time. We tailgated with a nice platter of shrimp cocktail, pepperoni, salami, cheese and crackers all washed down by some "Dead Guy" ales. Tailgating was finished off with a nice cigar. The seats at the game were actually part of a suite right on the 50 yard line.
The following week was Thanksgiving and Emily's mom and dad flew up from Florida the day before the holiday. We all had such a great time for the 4 days they were in town. My step-sons, Josh and Adin got to spend time with their Papa and Grandma. Papa played some street hockey with the boys and helped Adin practice his prayers for his upcoming bar mitzvah. Grandma is the competitive one in the family (almost as competitive as I am) so she is always starting a card game of some type. Papa and Grandma also spent the 4 days spoiling their granddog, our basset hound, Lulu.
On the Saturday after Thanksgiving I went with Harvey, Josh and Adin to the Rangers/Flyers game at Madison Square garden. Knew it was going to be a great game right away because there was a fight just 4 seconds into the game. Rangers won 2-0, we all had a great time.
All in all, it was a terrific 10 days. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family to share special occasions and holidays with. Most of all, I am so lucky to have Emily. Just having someone in your life where both of you have such a strong love and respect for each other, makes not only holidays and special occasions better, but also makes every day of my life better.
