father's day (lyn)

M, Alexander and I head out to Long Island to celebrate Father’s Day at Valerie’s.   M drives, and we are entertained by her navigation system.  M presses a button and a pleasant live person comes on and says, “Can I help you with directions?”  We say yes, give her Valerie’s address, and like magic, she provides both maps and a “turn-by-turn” display.  It’s impossible to get lost.  I wish I had someone like her shadowing me through life.

We arrive around five, and the other nine guests are already there.  Since it’s a barbeque, everyone is dressed casually.  My family all know M so they are thrilled that she can join us.  The food is so good that I embarrass myself by eating: a tomato mozzarella salad, some flank steak, corn-on-the-cob, green beans, and a hamburger on a bun.  For dessert, I eat a little fruit and a lot of the 7-layer chocolate cake.

After dinner Valerie asks me if I’d like to try on a few pair of pants that she is finished with.  My sister is the only person in the world from whom I am thrilled to accept hand-me-downs.  In the past, we have been separated by many sizes, so this is really the first time I've been made this offer.  I just wish it been made before my five-pound meal.

Valerie hands me several items, one of which is a beautiful pair of Michael Kors summer pants, size 4.  I try them on and M loves them; Val thinks they look great; and I wonder if I have any shoes I can wear with them.  They are stylish and slimming.  I take them home.

Aside from some absent dads (mine is on the Cape and Alexander’s is, well, always missing), it is a great day.