I love family reunions, cousin……what was your name again?

The morning tv sportscaster, as well as the weathermen, are all pointing to Seattle as the the nation’s best place to be, weather-wise. Thirty-one days in a row without rain! Can’t say that about Long Island. 

 

Saturday morning on Long Island was 3,000 miles and a deluge of a downpour different than Seattle. Thunderstorms were being called for, as well as lots more rain. How could the clouds possibly hold any more than they had already dumped on L.I.? Tiger’s comeback and the future of the U.S. Open Golf Tournament were of no concern to us, though. Well… to a small degree they were.  We were moving to an RV park adjacent to the golf course where the tournament was being played. Our confirmed site had no hookups, but if anyone wimped out on account of the rain we could upgrade and have power and could empty the sh***er.  

 

For the present our immediate concerns were: 1.) Picking up Julie and her husband Alex from their hotel (they had flown in late the night before); and 2.) Georgie’s party – how in the world would his kids possibly get their home-body father to a park for a picnic?! In the rain no less. At home he had everything a park did and more. 

 

Though 7 ½ months pregnant Julie had gotten the blessing from her OBGYN to fly back for Georgie’s party. She hadn’t been to New York since she was 13 – for Steve and Ina’s son’s Bar Mitzvah. She had told Lisa she was disgusted to admit she could pass by any of her cousins in the street and not recognize them. 

 

Alex managed to take time off from work and flew back with her. Julie was only going back if he could come. She didn’t want to hear about it for the rest of her life if she went into labor and had their baby girl without him being there. 

 

At their hotel we recognized them and headed to the park. To Julie’s amazement, we found the right group without too much searching. Sad to say it was almost as hard for Tom and me to recognize the cousins as it was for Julie, but all the other groups picnicking were Filipino so we lucked out. 

 

Georgie’s kids got a tremendous turn-out in spite of the weather. Old friends from his bartending days, neighbors and the entire family – except for his youngest son who lives in Roanoke, VA and whose wife was expecting their first child at any minute. Tom’s last living aunt, Francine was their (she did have to wander through all the other picknickers first though), and his cousin Barney drove up from the New Jersey shore for the festivities. 

 

Amazingly, they even got Georgie to his party! Surprised and quite overwhelmed emotionally, it was so moving for all of us. 

 

A year and a half ago Georgie was diagnosed with esophogeal cancer, and even though he is doing extremely well, we all wanted to let him know how much he is loved.

 

The rain let up now and then, but even at its wettest it didn’t stop the kids from playing ball and flying kites.  Tom counted himself as one of the young and tried his best to fly his kite (from our NW campouts). In fact, until someone compared him to Ben Franklin, his kite and electricity experiments, he was happy to run around like a little kid. 

 

The afternoon got later and the rain picked up, so everyone who didn’t have a long way to drive, picked up and moved the party back to Georgie’s.  Barbecued chicken, burgers and hot dogs with all the favorite side dishes had amply fed us during the afternoon and the leftovers returned with us to Georgie’s.  As the evening progressed we shared memories of Georgie and videos and made new memories as well. 

 

Julie and Alex spent the nights at George and Adeline’s Bates Motel – their basement apartment that was inspired by their stay in our Bates Motel. Julie was very content. A favorite uncle and a doting aunt and renewed friendships with her cousins. In fact, Georgie’s oldest daughter, Laura, went out and brought back New York bagels  for breakfast. Georgie had added to her culinary enjoyment by fixing everyone cheese omelets, too. 

 

Julie’s second motivation for the trip was to sample the local food. She had to have a Philly Cheese Steak when they changed planes in Philadelphia (she was disappointed) and while in New York she had to have bagels, White Castle hamburgers and pizza.   She and Alex had a mid-afternoon flight back to L.A., so we drove them out to L.I. MacArthur airport. Alex had to get back to work bright and early Monday morning. With the economy the way it is, he is super busy – he’s a corporate bankruptcy attorney. On the way we stopped and got White Castle Hamburgers. I didn’t eat any, as I remember them from the only other time I had eaten them – when we first moved to L.I.. I was pregnant with Lisa and suffering from morning (all day) sickness. I’m not going to be pregnant (thank God!) ever again, but the mere smell of those burgers puts me back in those gaggy flu-like days of yore. Julie love them and scarfed up a bag of them, leaving no room for pizza. 

 

They ran into problems at the Philadelphia airport, where they once again had to change planes. The airline had to make an equipment change, which meant some passengers had to be bumped. For some unfathomable reason, the airline separated them. Alex had to fly back alone and Julie had to spend the night in the city of brotherly love. And she’s pregnant! You’d think they wouldn’t want the liability. On the good side, Alex got back to work in time and Julie didn’t go into labor and she did get a free ticket. And she got another and much better Philly Cheese Steak!

 

Oh! Can’t forget it – the day after the party was Father’s Day! It was so terrific to have so much time to spend with our extended family. 

 

And with that the rain tapered off and we began to think about the morrow’s departure to Virginia.