Revolations from the book of Elena and what was that latin phrase again...oh yes, et sic porro*

* I guess I didn't learn anything from my birthday post. et sic porro-and other things.

We were having a family dinner, you know that fabled state of existence all you future people hear your parents and grandparents talk about, you know the Camelot of their childhood. (Don’t tell me you don’t get the reference? We can go with the John F. Kennedy administration or the play or even the movie with Richard Harris, you know Dumbledor from Harry Potter’s early films.) Sitting around eating and talking. (At this table if you’re on your phone Teri will let you know to put it away.) This is the table where revelations are revealed or harebrained schemes are reviled. It is a place of love sometimes lacking in

respect. It is also the place Elena announced to all assembled that when she and Matt were in Atlantic City he was going to take her to Sunset Beach and propose to her. Back in a world several lifetimes away, someone getting engaged at 22 or 23 was normal. Children grow up at a slower pace these days. I’ve told both girls not to be in such a hurry to grow up. Life with few responsibilities is like the old song, ‘Toyland’ . There is a line in the song Once you pass it borders you can never return. Since I left it and several people will argue that point, you can only go back for short visits and those visits will just remind you this is not the place you want to remain and it’s not what it once was. A movie with Kevin Spacey, American Beauty where he is fired and decides to live life as he did when he was a teenager sounds like a dream, but I at least couldn’t do it. Elena in her typical cryptic manner didn’t elaborate on what happened that night. She said something about having a choice to go to Sunset Beach or this restaurant, I think. They ended up at the restaurant. Now the thought that they went to Atlantic City last year and they broke up in the spring and we are only hearing about it now. She didn’t even tell anyone they’d broken up for weeks.

It’s been really hot this last week, like in the 90’s. My blueberries are ripening two to three weeks early and after working outside for a little while tonight I came inside to help Teri make meatballs for dinner. She didn’t want to make them and we were debating what to do when Sean and Nastia walked in. I’m in the kitchen debating what to do and Nastia walks into the kitchen and asks what's for dinner? Without skipping a beat I tell her she is cooking and whatever she wants. She takes the bull by the horns, and goes downstairs. She came back with Pierogies and vegetables. Teri hears me tell Nastia she can make something with the chop meat Teri just bought. Teri says not to open the meat yet, she’ll make the meatballs. Nastia and her work together adding spices, while I watch from the door. I hear Teri say something and laugh. I think that is my cue to leave. While I’m writing this I hear Nasti say they don’t need to make test meatballs because they’re probably fine. A major mistake by Nastia, Teri allows to pass. Nastia makes the meatballs small like I do, this Teri can not let pass and tells Nastia so. You makea the meataballs big, nota like your fathers! I know, not funny.