Category Archives: Family

Today is my mother’s birthday, and we’ll be celebrating with a family dinner at our home later today. The menu is a robust lasagna, a side of roasted garbanzo, some greens & beans, and one of Andy’s Birthday cakes. I’m also giving her one of the best presents I’ve ever given anyone, and hopefully she’ll enjoy it as much as I think she will. Most mothers form the backbone of the family, and ours is no different. If there’s one person who has always worked to keep us together, no matter how wayward and wrong we were, it was, and remains, my Mom.

It couldn’t have always been easy for her – the lone female in a house of guys (though I did my best to help with the whole gay thing and all, which probably wasn’t the ameliorative prospect I thought it would be) – and surely she missed out somewhat on raising a daughter, but she never let that diminish her love for my brother and me.

Today she is still the person to whom I turn whenever I’m at a loss as to how to handle something, the voice of reason and reflection whenever I’m in doubt. Though our roles sometimes switch as we both get older, she’s still my Mom – and I’m proud to say I’ll always be a Mama’s Boy.

There is no better way to start off a New Year than with the hope and excitement of our littlest ones. Here are some photos of my nephew Noah and my niece Emi from New Year’s Day (with a special guest appearance from our littlest one of all, my cousin’s latest addition Phoebe!) It’s just enough to restore my constantly dwindling faith in the world.

One of the many things that has always struck me about my father was his disdain for Doctor vanity plates. All my speeding tickets and run-ins with the cops might have been somewhat easier had it been for a little ‘MD’ sign on the license plate. But my Dad was not that kind of doctor. He was never in it for the glory or the name or even the money. He had the old-fashioned doctor’s aspiration only to help and comfort the sick. Next month he will be honored by St. Mary’s Hospital with their “Lifetime Award for Excellence” – and it couldn’t go to a more deserving person.

It’s long over-due, as my Dad was one of the hardest-working and most dedicated doctors right up until his retirement a couple of years ago. Whatever shreds of humility and honor I have were instilled in me by his example. Any altruistic notion of goodness that resides in me was mostly his doing. He never complained about being awoken at 3 in the morning for an emergency call, or missing out on vacation days – his family did, but he didn’t. It was his vocation and calling, and the community of patients loved him for it. They saw a side of him that his two unruly boys didn’t always grasp, though as I grew up I understood more and more.

Recently, he stepped into a new role as Grandfather (or “Lolo”) to his twin grandchildren, and he might be just as good as that as he was at being an anesthesiologist. Congratulations to one of the most noble men I’ve had the privilege to know. (And I promise to wear something respectable to the Awards Dinner.)

I had already shared billing with my husband, but the notion of sharing a holiday card with a baby – much less two – was once as incomprehensible as wearing white after Labor Day. But that’s how things like ‘Winter white’ get invented, and how I ended up in this photo pulling my niece and nephew along in a Radio Flyer. None-too-subtly hyped up as ‘My Most Shocking Holiday Card Ever’ it was a rare moment when the hoopla lived up to its promise, as jaws dropped around mailboxes across the country.

Well, a different kind of pool – this one in the cellar. Neither my nephew, nor I, know the specific rules of the game, but we both like the way the balls sound when they’re clicking each other on the pool table. Of course, I prefer that he keep the balls actually on the table, and that he rolls them rather than throwing them, but he got the hang of it soon enough. One day he’ll teach me the real way to play, because right now I can’t be bothered. Besides, his way is far more fun.

This is my nephew Noah helping me decide what to wear for tonight’s gala. Sometimes it’s good to get a child’s perspective on questionable accessories. Just to clarify, I did not instigate this playing-with-pearls moment – they were sitting on the table when he happened to stop by for a visit, and like all things that I forget to put away when the kids come over, he made a beeline for what was not supposed to be touched. I believe he was trying to tell me to tone down the number of pearls I was going to wear.

After giving it some thought, I had to admit the kid was right. From the mouths of babes.

Additional clarification: I did not encourage him to put them on either. You can’t stop a kid from being fabulous if that’s what he wants to do. (Besides, he took them off after a minute, so clearly he didn’t find them as fabulous as I would have. He much preferred rolling (and throwing) the balls violently on (and off) the pool table.)