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Dear H,

        “It’s a little bit funny…this feeling inside
        I’m not one of those who can easily hide…”

Stacy asked if I choked up at your party. Not really, I told her, except for the video—perhaps. Truth is I spent most of last night watching you bandy about, all aglow from love being sent your way. In a confluence from your work, play and family, everyone’s eyes were smiling.

It was hard though—no, emotionally impossible, not to span the sixty years. In her pictorial montage, Amy had us hugging on the doorsteps of Hopkins, mugging on the front lawn of Stonehaven, and loving our kids on Aldersgate. That’s a lot of road traveled—quite a journey. How blessed I am that from the “old neighborhood” of the 50’s to today’s homes in Lyndhurst, you’ve gone from being my little brother to my younger brother to….(at times my older brother), to… my best friend.

        “…I don’t have much money, but boy if I did
        I’d buy a big house where we both could live….”

Last night, yet again, you proved Leo Durocher wrong. Nice guys, nice guys like you, indeed finish first. Encompassed by the lifelong friendship of Alan, Howard, two Bruces and a Pear, you were also surrounded by all remnants of a family that never—never once in your lifetime—-had a bad thing to say about you. What a tribute!

You were so busy last night; everyone wanted a piece of you. I watched as your girls beamed, eyeing with pride their regal father. And Margie? She had things planned to a tee. In an evening of pomp and…precision, though, you may have missed some things.

Like Freedman telling me he wanted to sing his theme song, “The Twelve Days Of Christmas. Or Herzog, hat-in-hand, explaining why ‘though Ross, two Mandels, two Bogarts and two Fentons all played for the White Sox, Alan never made it out of the 11-12 year old minors.

You didn’t miss, I’m sure—perhaps even marveled at Mel Kroot’s omnipresence on stage, or Aunt Helen’s on mic in the evening’s finale: “Paradise By The Dashboard Light” . My favorite though, the “warm fuzzy” for me, was Cousin Gary finally getting out of his chair and joining us for “You Were On My Mind” and “I Saw Her Standing There.” Has there ever been a day in our lives we didn’t want to spend more time with him?”

(I’m just saying).

        “And you can tell everybody
        This is your song….”

The upshot of the whole thing is, H, that you are a beloved man. Last evening friends, family and colleagues displayed this not only by turnout, but by tempo. They proved once again that age-old adage that “what goes around, comes around.”

And I, as much as anyone else, am glad you came around.

Happy Birthday,  B

        “I hope you don’t mind
        That I put down in words
        How wonderful life is with you in the world….”

                                            Elton John/Bernie Taupin

This entry was posted on Monday, February 28th, 2011 at 12:24 pm and is filed under Up From Dysfunction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.