Early this morning I walk with a friend who tells me a story about her first cousins. It’s a short story about a family of six. Four kids, one of whom dies at age 14. The family never recovers. It’s now 35 years later and the kids are separated from each other (both geographically and emotionally), the parents broke up years ago, and the mother has no relationship with one of her daughters. It makes me sad to think of a family having so many problems, and fortunate that mine, despite our minor squabbles, is very close. I am very lucky.
Tonight I have dinner at a great Italian restaurant (Primola, an old favorite of Bernie Madoff, I’m told) with my sister Jean who is in from Boston, my sister Valerie and her husband Abbey, their three sons: Adam (29), Jason (almost 28) and Michael (almost 24) -who is in from LA, and Jason’s girlfriend. Unfortunately, Alexander can’t join us as he is home still working on a 7-page English paper on Cuba (why not Wuthering Heights? I know. I don’t understand it either).
Getting together with my family is always fun. I wear slimming black pants, a white tank, and a lightweight black cotton sweater with angular lines. Jean hasn’t’ seen me since Thanksgiving, or more specifically, since 20 pounds ago. She acknowledges that I “look great.” At 120 pounds, I still weigh more than she does, and, she's about a half inch taller.
The food is amazing, and although I eat more carrots than bread sticks (to begin with), I wouldn’t exactly characterize my dinner as low in points. There’s the Cosmopolitan drink. The olives and aged parmigiano cheese. The tuna tartare appetizer. The incredible veal scallopini with tomatoes and mushrooms. A skim milk cappuccino. About 1/3 of a flourless chocolate cake with cinnamon ice cream. Oh, and a few little butter cookies. Scrumptious. I don’t even bother to track the points, as I know it’s a lot, and tomorrow starts a new week. I’m trying to be less compulsive---observant, but not obsessive.
The food is amazing, and although I eat more carrots than bread sticks (to begin with), I wouldn’t exactly characterize my dinner as low in points. There’s the Cosmopolitan drink. The olives and aged parmigiano cheese. The tuna tartare appetizer. The incredible veal scallopini with tomatoes and mushrooms. A skim milk cappuccino. About 1/3 of a flourless chocolate cake with cinnamon ice cream. Oh, and a few little butter cookies. Scrumptious. I don’t even bother to track the points, as I know it’s a lot, and tomorrow starts a new week. I’m trying to be less compulsive---observant, but not obsessive.
Really, I always enjoy dinner with my family. Never a break in conversation. Much laughter. And the boys (as we call them) always keep us entertained. Each one of them is handsome, funny, smart, athletic, and genuinely nice. Each is always interested in what anyone has to say. Each brings their own sparkle into every room they enter. I am head over heels in love with these three boys. Always have been.
Get home around 10:30 and poor Alexander is still working on his Cuba-paper. I wish he could have been with us all tonight, but only four more days and his summer will begin.
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