Mom and I arrive first, right at noon, and the others straggle in over the next twenty minutes. We start chatting about the father’s day dinner she hosted, and how Aunt Ruth was as usual busy complaining about various aches and pains, interrupting anytime the conversation didn’t include her, and being generally disagreeable. I tell Mom that David and I will just be flying in on August 3, the day they just announced to be the unveiling of Uncle Leon’s stone. We agree that if our presence was important, someone would have asked first about our schedule before planning such a date.

Dad is the last to arrive, so we’re sitting down, the four of us siblings, plus Matt Pinsky and Mom/Grandma. This week we’re at the Egg Shell, which is a quicker meal than some of the other places. Usually, we order an apple pancake as dessert, but this time no one remembers until it is too late, and we’re all disappointed.

Janet tells us before we order, that Maureen, the wife of our second cousin Bob, is in the ICU; she has been battling lung cancer for months. Matt isn’t sure who she is, so I do a little family tree clarification. Janet had invited Maureen and Bob over for dinner, and she’d been having sudden trouble breathing in spite of being hooked up to an oxygen tank. She is younger than me, and a very beautiful, always strong looking woman. I’m silent for a while, reflecting on our luck, our blessings.

Marty tells us about buying a new car, that his brother in law in the business called him about it the minute it was brought into the dealership. Now he has to sell his old BMW, and Matt wonders aloud if Marty might want to donate it to him. Milton says that Matt can’t afford to own two cars, and we have a discussion about driving at college, which Matt would like to do. Milton can’t stand the idea of him driving the 600 miles out there, but Matt says it would be nice to be able to visit his girlfriend, Lauren, at Maryland, which in any case costs $80 to take the very long and inconvenient bus ride.

We ask about Lauren, and Matt tells a story about dragging her on a bike ride that didn’t end well because she caught him staring at some skaters going by, one of whom was only wearing a towel. He tells us that Lauren is kind of like his mom, and Milt relates how once on the boat, Lauren and Ibby were wearing a similar looking outfit, and agreeing about everything they discussed. That gets us talking about the boat, and I ask Marty about his plans to replace the forty foot motor boat he sold last year. Marty isn’t thinking about it for now, but maybe he’ll look into it next year. He still pays for the slip at Montrose, and we ask if he’s able to rent it out. Apparently, this is illegal; the harbormaster was just canned after raking in a ton of money doing it.

This leads to a discussion about corruption in Chicago; Janet tells us about her childhood friend, a city social worker who now has a bunch of no-nothing supervisors, all appointed by the corrupt Cook County Board president, Todd Stroger. Somehow this leads into national politics, and Milton has surprisingly emerged as an Obama supporter. He spouts a bunch of facts about McCain wanting to raise more taxes than Obama, which riles up Grandpa, who then wants to talk about McCain being a hero. Grandma asks if anyone has seen the Obama commercial with a young woman, baby on her lap, talking to the camera saying something like, “Even if McCain wants us to stay in Iraq for another hundred years, my baby is not going over there”.

“Is that really an Obama commercial?” Milton asks.
Grandma insists that she never said it was an Obama commercial. Milton tells a few more stories that are unflattering about McCain. Janet reminds us that McCain didn’t ask for 100 years of battle, and tries to clarify the situation. Grandpa clearly wants to argue with Milton, but it has gotten late. I ask Grandpa is there’s anything he wants to share with us while we’re all still there. Marty says, “Does anyone here know anything about mentoring?” We all laugh, including Grandpa. It doesn’t bother him that we poke fun at him. We’re all proud that he is still trying to make the world a better place, at age 80. We just don’t want to help!

Then we decide that next week we’ll meet early, at 11:45. Oysy Sushi? No, Janet hates it there. How about the new kosher place, Mizrahi? Too small and it has very slow service. I tell everyone that I’ll let them know. Then, I run to do some errands and get back home to Gabie, who is eating chips in front of the television.