Monday, June 13, 2022
I have not yet driven, but Sunday Barbara tried to move my car and it would not start. Battery went totally bad and needed replacement. Fortunately AAA, called about 9 a.m., had everything fixed before 11 a.m. Generally, I hate dealing with them, but this time was a pleasure. The lady who answered my call was understandable, kind, smart and patient, and the repair person very nice. I think competent but no way to know for sure until I try to drive.
Business is picking up. The battery costs much less than the air conditioning compressor which was in a dead heat with the landscaping maintenance.
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Sunday was quiet for me once car fixed but not for Barbara. She enlisted two grandchildren to do a major task and still bit off more than she could chew.
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Today, as most of you know, is my birthday. Every day is a milestone on my side of the family so, although it is not just another day, if I hear from all my children and grandchildren with something meaningful said, I will be happy. Otherwise, frankly, I will be royally pissed. It is just the way I am. Barbara at least pretends that I am all that matters and that if she does not hear from others, so be it. I am not that way. I wear my emotions on my sleeve. If someone disappoints me, more times than not they know it. And if they do not, I do.
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Marlins could not do it Sunday, but with Verlander on the mound for Houston, I did not expect a win.
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I have been told by more than a few that just because today is my birthday, I am expected to post something. It is just past 7 a.m. in Florida, but already afternoon in Italy and I have already heard from the vast majority of the usual suspects———Gianni and Gabriella, Stefano and Luca, Mario and Isabella, Marco Sabani, and Giuliana. There are not many left over there.
So, I then looked to see whether maybe, although I knew it was a long shot, the stock market would say “Hey, it’s Jimmy's birthday, let’s not make him poorer today”, but the futures are down hundreds so, “Brother Can You Spare A Dime?”.
I always intended to research but never did whether that great song or “Ten Cents A Dance” was written first, because maybe the guy asking for the dime wanted to go dancing. Obviously, something happened to my mind overnight.
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The closest thing to a present this early in the day is my seeing that the January 6 Committee Hearings did not lose its legs over the weekend. To the contrary, it appears that more of what was seen and heard has begun to sink in.
There is no question that Trump was intent about overthrowing the government. There is now no question he knew he lost and, get this and never forget it, he was willing to see Mike Pence hanged in order not to lose. Let me repeat that for everyone. Trump wanted to kill the Vice President if it meant he did not have to leave the Oval Office. Not only should he have left, he should have gone right to the mental ward at the nearest prison.
If the momentum against the Big Lie can continue and Trump and others are prosecuted, that will be a great birthday present.
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I was asked to talk about other birthdays. I do not recall ever having a bad birthday. I have never kept a diary, although if I had it to do all over again, I would have kept a record of all the books I had read.
The birthdays that I remember enough to say something about are, in descending order, my 80th 75th 70th 50th 35th, and 7th If I were reading this, the only one that would pique my interest is my 7th. What could possibly make me remember that one?
Well, maybe time for a joke first. Little boy never spoke. He became 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and never said a word. His parents were frantic. They spent a fortune with doctors all over the world. No one could find anything wrong.
Then, one day at breakfast, the kid looks up and says ”I don’t want any more fucking bananas”.
The parents, of course, are flabbergasted; happy for the most part to learn their son is not mute, but unhappy with the profanity. Anyway, after things calmed down they said to their son, “You never talked for seven years, and now that is what you have to say?”
The boy looked up and said, “Everything was all right til now”.
Everything was fine with me until, for my 7th birthday, my parents, instead of taking me to both shows, made me choose between seeing “Annie Get Your Gun” or “Finnian’s Rainbow”. At that age, I had never had a hard choice to make, maybe no choice, because I did what my parents said with no debate.
I chose to see Ethel Merman, by the way.
I remember my 35th because it was in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace. All our friends who worked so hard to succeed and were making great progress in that regard showed up. This was when Caesars was at the very top with the Bacchanal Room and the Palace Court, (probably the best restaurant in the history of Vegas, long gone) and would get the music and nightclub aficionados. The entertainment, on the same bill, was Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. Find a time capsule and travel anyplace you choose in history, there could never be two entertainers better on the same stage.
For my 50th, I was President of The Florida Bar and Barbara threw a big shindig up in Orlando. This was at the time the 80-hour work weeks paid off. I had one of the best family law practices in the Country and was only the second family law lawyer in the Country to be President of a State Bar. Our specialty was still somewhat of a stepchild in the eyes of the fancy Wall Street Firms who would never consider doing divorce work. It was beneath them.
My 70th and 75th birthdays were sort of Goodbye Columbus affairs that lasted several days. They were great fun, and I enjoyed hearing nice things said about me that I could not hear when eulogized.
I never thought I would make it to 80, but I did and we took a six month cruise around the world. Whole family came for a 17 day segment. Barbara went kicking and screaming but ended up having the time of her life. When she balked, all I said was, “I may be old and somewhat overweight, but I bet some woman would get on that boat in the owner’s suite with a butler and sail around the world”. Barbara knows a winning argument and responded “I am going, I am going”.
Barbara and I know we have lived a charmed life. Obviously, another birthday is a great thing. Another anniversary is even a greater thing because, for many reasons, we’re able to make our lives together and as long as we are together, we will handle whatever we have to.
Thank you for your well wishes. .
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I will not discuss more current events until tomorrow. My first foray up the stairs went fine.
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Go Ukraine