All Four of Us with Grandpa

November 18, 2008
Last week Anat was with us for lunch at PF Chang’s, because she had just finished finals and there was a short break. Her goal was to stop thinking during that break, which was hard for her after all that constant study. I think Anat told stories about medical school, but Grandma was sitting across from me and she kept chatting so that I couldn’t hear what Anat was saying at the other end of the table. I brought extra Advair disks for Marty because two of the kids use it. Our friend Henry Danko, who used to be Grandma Weiss’s doctor, gave me a box of samples, and I shared them with Janet, Milton, and now Marty. Thee food was good, and the dessert was a giant piece of chocolate cake big enough to share between the six of us.
Today, Janet, Milton, Marty, and I had lunch with Grandpa at Stir Crazy. Marty started complaining immediately, because he much prefers an eggy kind of place, but Janet had complained earlier about how awful Eggshell Café is….something is wrong, she thinks, about the way they prepare the food. I think she suspects the cleanliness of the kitchen. So we had some discussion about where to meet next week, when some of the college kids will be around.
Grandpa has a big bandage smack across his forehead, which invites conversation. Turns out he got it on the edge of his car door when he turned around without noticing the door was still there and open. Marty, luckily, bandaged him up. We spoke a bit about how glad we all were that he now has a driver, and no car of his own. Grandma seems to think that he will lease a new car when the winter is over, but all four of us sat there and echoed each other’s relief that Grandpa is not driving.
I said I’d actually used Mark, the driver, to help me on Monday when both Becky’s and David’s cars were dead; one had to be towed, the other jump-started. I needed a ride to pick up Becky’s car from the mechanic (Kenny), and it was great to have someone like that to call. Even though Grandpa shares the driver with Julie Dann’s father, Charlie, the Danns are leaving for Florida next week, and the driver will be totally available to Grandpa. It’s not that much money either.
Marty updated us on the state of his house renovations….heated bathroom floors, steam shower etc. I made a snarky remark about how I look forward to when they are finished and he’ll have to regale us with interesting stories for a change (as fascinating as it is to hear about kinds of wood flooring). He also wanted to tell us about Sammy and his chess club….another gripping tale.
Milton told us that Matt is coming home on Friday night; it’s great that he has the entire week off. It’s really smart, because first of all the tickets are probably less, and secondly, everyone gets to enjoy the full week. Dani comes on Tuesday so she’ll be there, but both Maya and Becky get home too late on Wednesday.
Janet told us that she has a precancerous growth on her face that she is treating with a special cream. It led, as usual, to a discussion of who is fighting cancer, who had a double mastectomy, and who died (the second husband of our old neighbor Bobbi Zerlin, whose first husband Sam was one of Grandpa’s favorite people in the world).
At some point during the lunch, cousin Joanne Kirshenbaum came by with her mom Suri, and aunt Pearl. After kisses all around, Janet said mazal tov to Joanne, because her son Eric (Dani’s grade) just got accepted to U of I medical school. Janet is friends with Joanne, but no one in that entire family has been overly friendly to us since we moved back to Chicago.
Milton and Marty told us of their plans to meet at the bike trail off of Lake Cook to go for a ride this afternoon, so they had to leave early. We talked about working out; how Janet and I meet with a personal trainer every Friday morning, and Janet also works out with him on Tuesdays. I told Milton that we sometimes see Ibby’s friend working out with Donovan, who has a gorgeous body. Milton said he would never let Ibby work out with a cute guy, but I said that Donavan and Michael (David’s trainer) call women over 30 ‘cougars’, and that he shouldn’t worry about it at all. He announced that he’d then have to work out with a beautiful woman who was also a dancer.
Marty wanted to know about our work outs, and I told him that we like Aaron because he is a kinesiologist (or something) and can help us every time one of us hurts something. Also, we have that stenosis in our family. We spent a moment remembering Grandma, who was bent over the last few years from stenosis of the spine. Uncle Leon also had it, and Grandma is starting to feel it, but she and Grandpa are working out with a physical therapist.
Marty and Milton left, and Janet and I chatted with Grandpa for a bit. We tried to find a good chocolatey dessert, but they really didn’t have anything. Looks like we won’t be returning to Stir Crazy. Janet then drove Grandpa back to the office, but she promised to stop and get him something chocolate at Starbucks on the way. I had to run home and get back to the computer, I explained, because I have a hard time working in short installments, and need a chunk of time to get things done.