1. Back in Valley Cottage, NY, our grandson, Jack, turned 15 years old today. His cousin, David, turned 14 (I think I got that right) at the beginning of the month. So on Friday, while David's family was still in Valley Cottage, Debbie, Jack, Adrienne, Eloise, Patrick, Meagan, David's family, and the kids' dad, John, had a birthday dinner for Jack and David (as I understand it).
Today, David's family (the Diazes) and John headed to the Diaz home in Woodbridge, VA.
Debbie sent pictures today of the remaining family members wearing little ice cream cone-shaped hats and enjoying Jack's birthday cake together.
Debbie sent Christy, Carol, and me pictures of Debbie with her three kids and a second picture of Debbie with her kids and grandchildren.
The pictures, their Thanksgiving Day, the birthday celebrations combined to make me very happy that the family was all together, loving and enjoying each other.
2. My happiness grew when Jeff emailed me today from Eugene, not only to encourage me to listen to a couple of his Deadish radio programs, but to tell me Margaret and Michael would be coming to his house this afternoon, thus continuing a long tradition of getting together for coffee that began around forty years ago. I was a part of that tradition for much of the time it's gone on and it's had other people come and go over the years.
The history of these get togethers is rich, varied, and, without fail, always fascinating as we've talked about our lives, our families, our studies, our work, and discussed many books, recordings, concerts, movies, and other art forms, including Margaret's drawing and painting and Michael's making of music. We've also talked about government over the years, whether the way the schools we attended and the ones we worked at were governed or about our city, state, or country and how they've been governed by the many governmental officers we've seen come and go over the past forty years.
I don't know what Jeff, Margaret, and Jeff discussed today, but I thought a lot about the many experiences we've had over these many years -- we've shared in one another's successes, our many losses, our frustrations, disappointments, and our joys; we've been there for each other through danger, happiness, stimulation, laughter, illness, mourning, and any number of other occurrences that have constituted our navigating the different stages of our lives.
I wasn't with Michael, Jeff, and Margaret today, but they were certainly with me, bringing me deep gratitude and profound satisfaction for these decades of friendship, coffee, great conversations, and unfailing support.
3. They didn't know it, but Michael, Margaret, and Jeff joined me in the kitchen today while I mixed Panang curry paste with brown sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, coconut milk, and dried lime kaffir leaves and made a curry sauce.
They were with me while I chopped half a white onion, two russet potatoes, a couple of carrots and two stalks of celery and while I got out a handful of frozen broccoli stalks and half a package of sliced mushrooms. I put the potato chunks in the curry sauce as it heated up and I stir fried the vegetables and later added a handful of shrimp and the curry sauce to the vegetables in the wok.
My mind was in two places: the kitchen and being with Michael, Jeff, and Margaret in Eugene, Oregon over the years.
My friends didn't distract me. I remembered to make a small pot of jasmine rice and after the sauce and the vegetables and shrimp cooked for a while in the curry sauce, coinciding nicely with the rice being cooked, I very much enjoyed my Thai curry dinner and continued to be thankful for all those coffee times with Jeff, Michael, and Margaret.
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