CTs* and HBD's

* If you want to know what a C.T. is, sent a self addressed, stamped envelope... A few days ago I come home after work and Dylan and Nastia are watching TV. She called earlier in the day and asked if they could go swimming, so it was no surprise. What was a surprise though was when I came into the house and turned the corner from the kitchen toward the living room. I see Nastia sitting in the arm chair with Dylan. I'm cool about it, it's just another white boy she is not going to date, but I know what this kid is thinking. I call Nastia into the kitchen and then I call her to go outside with me. I even think of talking to her in the garage, but I stop just out side of the door on the deck. In my head I am going to talking to her calmly, but when I open my mouth I hear myself say, "What the fuck are you doing, you're going to brake his heart the same way your broke Kevin's heart." In my head, I'm thinking, oh gosh, I guess I'm angry about this. I yell some other things and tell her if she breaks his heart I will only blame her and there will be no more just you and him doing things together, minimum of three people from now on! Then in a calm voice, I say, "Thank you" and I hold the door open for her to walk through. I expected her to cry or say something, she does nothing,says nothing.

After Dylan leaves Nastia says nothing, she avoids me, I start to feel bad.I talk to Teri later and tell her what I said. We've discussed how she acts around 'boys' and I expected her to agree with me and be happy I'd taken the lead. S When it come to being the bad guy, she feels it's mostly left up to her. Teri does say I'm her best friend, but doesn't seem to agree on how I handled it. It's been a while since she said that I was her best friend, I thought it didn't apply any more. The next morning I go into her room to say good bye to her before I go to work. I tell her that I yell at her because I love her. A typical parent thing to say, I know. She has forgiven me, but I'll have to wait to see if she

understands what I have said. That was Monday, I think. Wednesday was Elena's birthday. That is were the H.B.D.(Happy Birth Day) comes from (hint about the C.T.) For the previous week or so we ask Elena where she wants to go? She says in typical Elena fashion, "I don't know" So a day or two before her birthday I tell her we are going to Cho Cho San. Her response, "Okay". Invited are my mom and Nancy and for a total of 6 people. It is the usual act and still fum, the flaming onion volcano, the egg roll, the food throw and the saki drink. The food as usual is excellent. It always starts with a mixture of vegetables, then

rice, spaghetti is next and finally your chosen protein. The only disappointment is the beer selection, their price and the one I ordered is just this side of cold. In other words a man dying of thurst would have said, no thanks I'll wait. After the show and food, we pay and leave.It is around eight or so. Nastia and Elena decide to go out and drink to celebrate Elena's birthday. They get Dylan (poor guy is getting sucked in like Kevin, I fear.) to drive them. He is the designated driver. Around 11 or so they come back (work tomorrow) I'm sitting at the head of the table Elena sits to my left and Nastia leans on me to my right. They both talk about their evening and Elena comments that she is drunk, but like everything she does she doesn't show it, because I think it would be a sign of weakness. Nastia on the other hand is bouncing off my shoulder every so often, occationally playing with a curl of my hair as she talks. After a few minutes they both say good night and Elena's birthday is over. It is a good night. It was Ariann's birthday last week. Nastia said she wanted to go into the city. I didn't want Nastia to go and neither did Teri. She is almost twenty-four and I didn't feel we could stop her. I tell Nastia to make sure she tells her mother. I think one confusing day I hear her tell her mother. I don't remember Teri saying she did not want Nastia to go. So it was a surprise when Teri sends a text to me saying, "Did I know Nastia was in the city?" I reply she told you and the rest goes like it usually does. I do say "At least she is not trying to go to a dance club at night there." She is in the city and we hope for the best. I didn't even know how they got there.I will learn the details later that night. /

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to.*

Yeah, I had to look her name up too, Lesley Gore A couple of days before Friday, Nastia says she has invited people over to go swimming. Teri and I were both ok with that. On Friday, a few minutes to four I get a text from Teri. She says there was apparently a pizza guy at the door at the house. Teri could see him from the ring camera, but couldn't speak to him (modern technology sometimes it sucks, other times it half works) She sees Nastia's car is there so she calls her phone, no answer. She calls it a second time and Arriana answers and says Nastia is asleep and she can't wake her. Teri says to pull her hair. Nastia gets on the phone and in a drunk voice is talking to Teri saying she is not drunk. I tell Teri, I'll be home in an hour. A little later I get a message from Nastia saying that her mother is leaving work early and coming home. I call Teri and tell her she doesn't have to, I'll be there a little after five. But Teri is hell bent on finding out what is going on at the house, as I guess I should have. Later I'll learn more about what was happening. I call Teri and tell her not to yell at Nastia, but to talk. Teri is angry. I tell her if she yells, Nastia will miss the message. She promises to not yell. Later I find out when Teri gets home she asks Nastia to come here so they can talk and Nastia is the first to yell, "I'm not drunk." I don't rush home with Teri there handling things. I go to get the Algeacide for the green pool. When I arrive Kevin is cleaing up the trash from their food. Nastia is inside with Arrianna, I think and Jessie with her son might be inside too. Maybe Dylan is inside too. The thing Teri is most upset about is there is Jessie's son who doesn't swim at a party with a group of people over twenty-one (notice I didn't say adults) and no one is really watching. It reminds me of a movie filmed around Rockland maybe twenty, thirty years ago called 'Driving in Cars with Boys. The teen mother is drinking with her friend and not watching her son who is near the pool and he falls in. Neither of the two girls notices until it is almost too late. I go upstairs, Nastia is in her room cleaning up some clothes. We start talking, she occationally weaves back and forth and says she is not drunk. She says she has alot of things on her mind and starts to cry a little. I'm a sucker for tears, as I guess most guys are.She tells me she is upset that her former boyfriend left her to become a fuckboy. I had to ask what that is. I remember when I was cool and knew what all the cool terms were. She says he left her to go sleep around. I asked how is that going? I think she smiles a little and doesn't say anything. People wander away. All the excitement/drama is over. Later Teri and I will discuss all the fun of the day. We'll talk about Jessie and Nastia drinking/smoking and how they both need to be careful. I know at least one comes from alcoholic parents. Teri will comment that Nastia cried with her, cried while walking with Jessie, then Teri will say drunk girls cry. She's not unfeeling for Nastia's feelings, just for Nastia being drunk. She has little patients for drunks. It's a real good thing she didn't know me when I was younger. She still won't let me live down that last night in Vegas when she played Nickle slots and I snuck out to a strip club and got really wasted. I think I've told that story before. If I haven't send a self addressed stamped envelop...opps there goes all the millennials again. I just checked, I've been making fun of the wrong group.I've wanted to make fun of the post 2000's people. The good old Gen Z'r it turns out are the ones who have no idea how to write a check or in script or mail a letter. So to all those Millennial's I've been tweeking, not tworking, hell I'm a WASP, I'd break a hip. Hell, I can't do it, I can't apologize. Let's leave it as an unspoken one then, mostly because both of those generations have their noses in their phone and with their short attation span** thier not listening any way to me now. Generation Z Generation Z – often referred to as Digital Natives or the iGeneration – is the cohort that comes after generation Y, also known as the Millennials. Gen Z starts from around 1997 till 2012 which means they are currently somewhere between 9 and 25 years old. **8 seconds Generation Z has become a prominent generation when marketing on social media. This is because it has always been surrounded by technology. However, this has played a significant role in the decrease of their attention span. The Gen Z attention span is a mere 8 seconds. /

Friday, and still nothing is going on, or is it again, nothing is going on.*

* I think it would be again because something happened between last week and now and I wrote about. It's Friday, I'm trying to be good on my diet, you know the one I've been on for ten years and gained twenty pounds on, but hey that's Covid weight! That was when calories didn't count because there was nothing else to do, and I'm not yet drinking beer. My former boss at The Crystal Spoon went out of his way back in May of this year to buy me beer for the company BBQ. I've was very touched by that and forever I will feel guilty that I felt I had to leave that job at the end of the May. Elena comes home every night except Tuesdays and Sundays, her days off covered in grease from head to foot. She is the hero of some of the women at my new job for doing what she loves (hopefully) even though it's considered a man's job. She is so covered in grease and sweat, it reminds me of the old days when I'd work on my TR-6. I miss those days. She is just friends with Matt these days.I made a joke while coloring the girls hair. You can tell what kind of relationship her and Matt are having by the hicky count. For the last several weeks (five or more, I guess) they've been just friends. He did go to the beach with her recently. You remember when the beach was hilly. She is planning a day at the beach with Jessica (her's and Nastia's friend as opposed to Jessie or JJ who is Nastia's best friend and Elena's acquaintance) and Nastia for this Sunday. Elena is a competent, if agressive driver. Nastia is a slow, mostly if inexperenced driver. Nastia rather let someone else drive then her to drive. I'm hoping Teri will want to go to the beach, invite Nancy and the six of us head to the beach Sunday. It's going to be roasting, in the 90's and Teri is afraid it'll be too hot. I can understand. Kevin doesn't come around much lately. It maybe a time out or worse. Nastia has been warned by Teri and I about how she is around guys. Last Sunday, after swimming she removed her bathing suit while under a towel in front of Kevin and Dylan. I saw her squeezing out her suit and called her to come here. I again tried to tell her what she'd just done. She said, "No one saw anything, I was covered by the towel." My reply, "It is still sexual to them. Here you are getting naked under that towel right in front of them." or words to that effect. I don't know if she understood or even listened. She did call in Jessie (her best friend Jessie) to change out of their suits (at least in Jessie's case anyway) Nastia doesn't understand the effect she has on guys sometimes. She doesn't understand how she is leading them on when she thinks she isn't. It's just the way guys are. I know all the guys are agreeing with me while the women are giving that 'I'm so confused look' and they're thinking I'll just stick with my frind in the top drawer. While everyone was at work she and Jessie and her son swam. It's Saturday morning and I invited Nastia to come home and go swimming. She said Vinnie will come and later Jessie and her son will join them. I was going to clean the pool, but I have to bring Athena to teh vet shortly. /

It Beachin weather.. *

This is a short one. The girls went to the beach. Elena went on Tuesday with Matt and unfortunately the beach fell on its side and walking was very tough. Elena didn't tell me this because she rarely tells me anything, except when she is drunk. She doesn't know, "Loose Lips, sink Ships"**. I still have secrets she told me and if you want to know them, send a self addressed, stamped envelope to ...Yeah, I've totally lost all the millennials. I lost most of them when I told them to do something, all the rest left and went to asked their parents what a stamp is and why do they need one. Suffice to say*** from the picture even though the beach was steep that day, the sun was out and she was with her friend (that day) Matt, at the beach.

Now Nastia went to the beach yesterday,sans Kevin. (There's that great word again, see the other days blog) She sends pictures around 3PM and I'm thinking she never told anyone she was going. I wait to see where this will go. Teri starts by asking, Where are you? Nastia, ever the one to supply information says, Jersey shore, then adds Seaside to the text. I eventually jump after Teri has said Didn't know, with She never said she was going. Somewhere in the back of my brain I hear a voice faintly, that I don't listen to

saying yes, she did. Teri texts "Niiiice so had we gotten a messge from the state police???" I'm sorry, but that is where Teri goes all the time in situations like this. It's like that TV show 'Life in Pieces' that I always like to reference,"Honey, you know that thing that you said would probably never happen..." or something like that ( I guess since no one will ever look up the scene, I can make them say anything I want.) It'll probably never happen, but it does happen to other people and sometimes we're the other people. I ask her to not be too late, to be safe. They eat at Chili's stuck in the mud somewhere in the swamps of Jersey**** And She manages to text me at 11:35 that she is back in New City._______________________________ * I know , not very original ** All the baby-boomers know where that comes from, their dads who went to WW2. For me, it comes from Bugs Bunny cartoons from the 1940's when Bugs Bunny went to war with Hitler and the Japanese. ***Another one of those great words I like: be enough or adequate."a quick look should suffice" Similar: be enough, be sufficient, be adequate ****I couldn't resist added a little Bruce Springsteen for all his fans. "And my tires were slashed and I almost crashed, but the Lord had mercy And my machine, she's a dud, out stuck in the mud somewhere in the swamps of Jersey

Fireworks and red hair dye, oh my!*

* yeah, it's not funny or a real rhyme, but I like it. It's Saturday morning, I've worked my new job now for 26 week days, if I remember the number I write down on the top of my note pad every morning. That stated when I told a customer I was new and as long as I could remember the number of days I was at my job, I could still claim to be new. After that I just started to write the new number at the top of the days notes. So it's 26 days, I think. I'm into a new routine, but miss my old one, I miss sitting with my mom every morning. Something I've done for the past thirty years more or less, going back to when I was delivering milk and the office was in the house and I lived in Stony Point, which puts it to back around 1989. Elena still likes her job, it's still summer though. She comes home all wired at the end of the day. Me, I think it's because she is out of work and happy. Teri says, "Elena, how much coffee did you have today?" I'm glad I was a kid in my parents generation. When my friends and I got into things we shouldn't have or did things in excess, if I was a parent, I'd of thought they were just happy or being goofy. Having been the 'happy' or 'goofy' one when I was a kid, I still don't pick up on people's altered states and Elena is just drinking too much coffee. She did forget to set her alarm one day and was still in bed at 7:30, work is at 8 AM. I don't know if she was on time or not, I leave at 7:35 for work.

Elna as her shirts say has gotten to experence driving all kinds of car. Some expensive like Tesla's, Mercedes, BMW. She even saw, not drove a standard shift car. For all of you future people who will never experence driving (self driving cars will be the norm by 2030) you'll never experence the sheer joy of driving a stick. I always like to talk about driving my TR-6 with an over drive. It had a four speed (look that up for yourselves future people. I can't give you all the answers) with an overdrive. I'd cruise up the Palisades Parkway before it was always jammed with cars. I'd exit the too short entrance ramp even back then, onto the Parkway, in first or second pressing the gas going faster, I'd shift and then shift again until I was in, like I said I think it was a four speed, so it'd be forth. I'd be doing sixty more or less, mostly more, then I'd hit the over-drive and the RPMS would drop and there was just something so magical about it. I'm probably romanticizing it through thirty or forth years of memory, but I do have a real soft spot in my heart for memories of that car and driving it as a kid. Maybe it was the time, maybe it was the car. I don't know. Elena saw that someone working in the shop is selling their motorcycle. I've talked about it and I hope she never drives one with her temper the way it is. She'd die rather quickly driving one. Nastia is enjoying life. She is just floating along in the currents seeing where they will take her. I joked to a co-worker who was leaving Friday, where I work who said that. I said, "I did that and you better watch out or you'll end up here. like me." or something like that, that everyone thought was funny. I worry for Nastia. She is a good time girl who wants to work with kids, but doesn't want to work for the education. She doesn't read, so her vocabulary and her ability to recognize words is too small. If this was 1948 instead of 2022, she'd be the perfect wife of a rich guy. Yeah, it'd have to be a rich guy, she doesn't cook much, thay'd need a maid/cook. Being it is 2022 she'll need to up her game a little (oh, did I really just use that expression?!, I hate that expression, That one and the other one I can't remember right now) She'll need to marry well.

Nastia asked me to color her hair yesterday. I thought it was just going to be her and I. I asked, "What about your sister?" Her reply was the truck driver version of, have sex with her. (I'm sorry is that wrong to find that funny. I laugh at alot of my own jokes on these pages. I hope I'm not laughing by myself as I usually do when I'm at home with the family and make a joke) We go down to the basement, she has an old shirt on and good pants. I ask her if she wants to wear them while we do this? She says she'll cover them up. I have alway loved knowledge, except if I was required to learn it in school. After the last time she let me color her's and Elena's hair I read up on how to do it. I talked with a few people who'd colored hair and I learned a few things. One of the important things is to put vaseline around the edges of the hair line to keep the dye from staining the skin. So I start putting the vaseline around her hair line. Just about then Nastia's phone rings, it Ariana, her friend who her former boyfriend didn't want her hanging around with. Ariana wants Nastia to accompany her to CVS or some convenience store to get M&Ms. Nastia tells her she is coloring her hair and to come over. Ariana arrives and I think maybe I can leave. No Nastia

wants me to do her hair. Then suddenly Elena is there and she is going to get her hair colored by Salon Joseph (I know this is politically incorrect, but that salon name doesn't sound gay enough to be a really good place to get your hair done.) So Nastia has her hair done and needs to wait an hour, next is Elena and the vaseline and then suddenly Kevin calls and he is invited over. He shows up and everyone is sitting around waiting for the dye to infuse it's self with the hair (does that sound like I know what I'm doing? I did drench both of their heads in the dye as opposed to what I did the first time. I leave and come back later after Ariana has left, sans (french for without. Another word I love) her M&Ms. I go down stairs because I hear water running and want to know what is going on, Kevin is still downstairs.

down there. At the bottom From the bottom of the stairs I see Kevin watching something on his phone, sitting on a milk case not looking very comfortable. The girls are in the bathroom washing their hair. I tell Kevin he doesn't have to wait for them, he can go home. He says he has nothing better to do. Boy is my daughter going to hurt him one day. Teri and I see what is going on, Nastia insists she has talked to him several times, but he is not listening, I'm sorry for him, he's in the friends zone. I've never made like I understand a women's thinking, but if your in the friends zone you're a friend. I understand how guys think and he is going to hang around her, make a pass at her and she is going to get angry and they will no longer be friends. I hope I'm wrong, he is nice and he is everything her former boyfriends weren't. So maybe that is why she doesn't want him as a boyfriend. Deep down we all fall for the ones we feel we deserve, for better or worse. Nastia just called to me asking if I could bring out some sun screen to the pool where Kevin, Vinnie and her are swimming. I bought it out to her, Kevin and Vinnie all swimming together. I know she'll put sunscreen on Kevin's and Vinnie's backs, but I'm wondering who'll get to do her back? Back on July 4th, a Monday, A bunch of us went to see the fireworks in Nyack's Memorial Park. We went last year after missing the previous two COVID years. Last year it was great. Even the fireworks in Nanuet were great.

This year we went to Felix Festa middle school. Got there at around 7:30 waited listening to music until 9:30 for some disappointing fireworks. I guess the previous year they had two years worth of money saved for the fireworks. Nyacks were better than Felix Festa's, but not as good as last years. At Nyack we parked in the parking lot over behind where the last theater in Nyack used to be, the lot off of South Franklin Avenue and walked down the hill to Memorial Park. We got good seats. Sometime before dark Elena has to go to the bathroom. Her and I walk up the hill to Piermont Avenue looking around for porta pots, there were none. I ask a 'rental a cop' (Sorry that's not nice, they are all volunteers and don't get paid.) where there might be a porta pot and I am pointed towards the old boat launch end of the park to my left as I face the park.We walk down the road past a few house on the left to where the barrier are set up, No porta pots. There is a new kids play ground and in it is this very nice building that is the pubic rest rooms. I'm very happy about that so I go to the mens and Elena, poor Elena who has to go, goes to wait on the line to the ladies room. One day someone has to tell me why there is always a line for the ladies room. I come out and Elena is still on line. She tells me I can go, she'll find her way back. I don't go back up the hill because I noticed the kid's play ground has a water spray feature to it and we are seated on the other side. It's a two minute walk. When Elena come back I ask her if she noticed that, she replys, "yeah, I just didn't know if there was a way through to where we were siting.

You know it is close to the time for the fireworks to start when you can see Tarrytown's and possibly Irvington's fireworks going. Nyack always waits for them to start first. A little later the fireworks start. This year it is like sex, a long wait, let me pee first,then over before you want it to be. There were some good points. And all (I'm trying not to get to gross talking about rockets and explosions and all makes it tough) the rockets shooting into the air at the end is really great. Alot of bright flashing light and tremendous explosions (I think I managed to be not too gross). Then it is time for the akward good bye, yes I'll call, Oh, crap I mean it took us longer to leave the park then it did too see the fireworks. They started around 9:35 and ended around 10, or a little after. We got to the car, after taking our time, going up the wrong street, seeing a girl hopefully only passed out on a sidewalk we wanted to walk on just as the Police arrived and the Ambulance is on it's way. We sat in traffic, then we move some, then stop, then after awhile move some more, then stop again. Eventually we get going and are out of Nyack pretty quickly, once we got going. It is 11 PM when we get home. Everyone goes to bed a little late that night.

Nastia, Kevin and Vinnie have just left to go get pizza. Vinnie changed down stairs, Kevin went stright to his car and Nastia showered quickly upstairs. I guess Vinnie got to put sunscreen on her back. I'm sorry if I sound cruel, but it is just so sad. I've been where both of them are right now and neither of them will end up with her. I had another talk with her before Kevin and Vinnie came over and she said they have had the 'talk' several time. I tried to make her see Kevin isn't listening. Her reply is something along the lines of, "it's not my fault". It might not be, but it doesn't make it any nicer when he eventually makes a pass at her. /

It's July 2nd and nothing is going on

It's July 2nd and I started this entry in mid June with the title: 'It's mid June and nothing is going on'. Obviously I've had to change the title because it's now July 2nd. I find it difficult to take the time now to write about what is going on with the girls. I used to write in the morning before I went to work, when it was quiet. I'd then go and visit my mom and head for work around 9:30. Well now I guess I've gotten an adult job because I get up at 7 and I'm out of the house by 7:35. It kind of reminds me of when I was going to high school because I did the same thing at the same time. Well you know what they say, What's new is old again or something like that. They always have an opinion, but sometimes they don't make sense. It's mid June and nothing is going on and that is with two daughters in their twenties. Covid seems to have ebbed enough that you are only reminded of it when you see someone wearing a mask or there is a report about cases rising again after falling for the last several weeks. Monkey Pox is the next pandemic everyone is waiting for with bated breath* Teri and I talked about going to get the second booster sometime soon. The girls, I don't think they need one or can get one. Either way, Covid is looking like it is finally in the rear view mirror. Everyone in the world is acting a little crazy. Maybe it is the taste of freedom for the first time in about two years or maybe it is all the crazies are just being crazy, either way there are alot of shootings and it seems people have finally caught on to Donald Trump's three card monty game** and his attempt to overthrow the Republic. The one thing I've learned over the last few years and all the other failed Republics knew, is democracy is not a hardwood. They are thin veneers that can be removed if not properly cared for. I've tried talking to the girls about it, you know coming from a country that has been ruined by an elected dictator. Putin and his war in Ukraine has changed the world. Elena will give her tough girl act and say she doesn't care and it has nothing to do with her. Nastia will say she hates Putin, but there is no thought about almost losing the republic on January 6th. I always thought that coming to America from another country, not as babies, but young children you'd develop more of a love and understanding of how lucky you are to be here, but I guess they were still too young and hadn't experences a repression of the Putin regime. Even with all of America's faults, there is no other place I'd like to call home. I will get off of my soap box now*** I'm a little disappointed in their love of democracy. I'm sure as they get older it will change.

Elena seems to be loving her job. She was given work shirts and I have always told Elena to take her time and to write clearly. After seeing her name on her work shirts I believe she wrote it quickly. Her name is spelled E-L-E-N-A. Her work shirts are for someone with the name Elna, E-L-N-A. ah, fun times. Elena hasn't seen Matt too much lately and there hasn't been any love bites either when she goes over. One day she'll have to tell me what is going on in that relationship. Are they really just friends now. I find it hard to believe, but I don't know. I just can't believe she has split from him and I don't hear or see her expressing any desire to find someone else.

Now Nastia on the other hand can't be without a guy around. She hangs around Kevin mostly all the time. There is no expression or shows of feelings between the two, but I can't help feeling that at least Kevin has feeling for her. Last night he went to the movies with us, well sort of. He went to the Palisades Center and ate food with us in the food court. He then goes to see Doctor Strange, we go to see Minions. Just before the movie Nastia realizes she has lost her air pods. The find my air pods app shows them at Stop and Shop. After the movie we head over there. Kevin is there and helps Nastia look for them. That is classic Joe Muller when he was a kid and looking for love. But Nastia will say they are just friends. He even went to the July 4th fireworks at Felix Festa Middle School of Friday. Nastia is racist in her dating habits. She says she doesn't date white guys. Obviously she also doesn't date guys that put her first, let her be herself, don't ostracize her from her friends and are respectful of her family. Kevin has been over our house more in June then her former boyfriend was in the year and a half they dated. There is some weird things, maybe weird is the wrong word. There are somethings going on. When Nastia goes up to her room to shower or change Kevin goes with her. This started so quietly that no one noticed for a while. Then when it was noticed, it was like... ah, do we say something, it is our house, but she is twenty-three and they are not having sex, at least I don't think so. I'm not crazy about it, but what is the harm compared to the hassle of stopping it and I also do remember my mother allowing me to have girlfriends in my bedroom and what happened in there... So nothing has been said.

I usually like to end things on an up beat note and express my love of my life and the people in it. I am very aware of how old everyone is getting, the dogs included. We lost a second cousin several weeks ago, Wally, he was in his eighties. My mom and Wally were very close, they would email back and forth all the time. My mom just turned 88, her brother Tonny, just turned 91, I'm 64, just a child, Karl is soon to be 68 and my dad died at 66. I'm very aware how fragile live is and a moment in time. There are many times I'd love to go back to, to relive again. Times where life was good. I have a picture on my computer of me in my early twenties, around 1980, with my foot up on my Jeep and at the time I didn't realize just how happy I was. It was years later that I realized. I look at my life with Teri and the girls and even though I don't see them as often as I'd like, Nastia is sleeping over this friends house or Elena is working and then going out with that friend. This time of my life though not perfect is a pretty wonderful time. I know the girls will not take that moment to realize their in a pretty wonderful time of their lives, mostly because I think like myself back in 1980 even if I took a moment to think about it I could not have appreciated it like I appreciate being alive now. It's not perfect, I know. Teri works too hard and is stressed, but we're all together. One day that will change,but it is not today. *With bated breath-In great suspense, very anxiously or excitedly- I love expressions and saying and tall tails and all that other stuff they say and have no idea where it's from- There they go again saying stuff. ** Three Card Monty- Three-card Monte – also known as Find the Lady and Three-card Trick – is a confidence game in which the victims, or "marks", are tricked into betting a sum of money, on the assumption that they can find the "money card" among three face-down playing cards. *** I think I've explained this before, but I just love this stuff. People who wanted to preach or provide advice to people in a public place used to stand on a wooden box to raise themselves above people to be heard and seen. Often, this would be a wooden box used for carrying soap in, and it became known as "preaching from a soap box". To say to someone "get off your soapbox" means to tell them to stop preaching or providing advice. /

The guy she's not dating, Elena's and my new job/.

Nastia and her last boyfriend broke up several weeks ago. She told me she was sad and was doing everything to keep her mind off her former relationship. She went bowling several times. She spent time with friends her old boyfriend didn't want her to hang out with and she spent more time with JJ (Jessie). On Saturday, I think she said she was going out to dinner with a friend. This is a game I have played with her several times and I have started to learn the rules. She will not volunteer any information, I'll have to ask for it. So I go down the list of questions. Who are you going out with? A friend, What is their name, Kevin, Where are you going? Out to eat. Where? Gilligan's, When? 7pm. How do you know him? From work. It went on like this for a few more questions. I got all of the information I needed and when he showed up I told her to invite him in. For now on all people I don't know or can't place will get invited to come in if she is to go out with them. Nastia's reply to asking him to come in was, "I'm not dating him." none the less he needs to come in. and in he would come. As I waited, I stood in the hallway, near the front door and the parlor not knowing where to stand, where to put my hands,or even how I should greet him. I figure he is just as uncomfortable as I am and if I was just friendly, it'd be fine. He comes in the door and looks as tall as Billy. His six foot, maybe four towers over Nastia's five foot about two inches. I say hi and he says the same. We are both pleasant and he calls me sir. I liked it, but told him he didn't have to call me that. After a few moments they leave. Several hours later she is home. Sunday she goes out with him again, this time to Hard Wok in Blauvelt. While questioning Nastia she says she is going to his place after dinner. Or maybe she said that when I texted her later. Everyone reading this or hearing this know what happens when a girl goes to a guys apartment. I didn't blink. She didn't hide it. I control what I can control, ignore what I can't. Nothing happens at his house. Nastia know on Sunday she has to be home by eleven. At eleven I text her, 'Where are you?' She replies she is on her way home. About eleven-thirty five or so she come in. I'm angry, but I'm trying to hide it. Her and her mother are talking when she says something that is just such an obvious lie I can't remain silent. And of coures, I can't talk, I yell. Thankfully Teri shuts me down quickly and I listen. The conversation ends quickly after that and she goes to bed. Monday, I talk to her before I go to work and tell her why I was so angry. I tell her I want to talk to her more after I get back from work. That evening she is out with the guy she is not dating. Tonight, Wednesday, June 8th we make plans to go see Jurassic Park, World Dominion. I tell Nastia, who is with Kevin, the guy she is not dating that we are going on Saturday, does she want to go? She asks if Kevin can go? Teri says to tell her he can go only if she is dating him. She says she isn't. He is going because everyone except her knows who she is dating. Elena, whos is not dating Matt dispite the hickies on her neck got a new job. ShopRite was paying her $16.00 an hour with benefits. Not the kind she is getting from Matt. Her new job she gets $14.00 an hour, no benefits. She is at that age where she doesn't care. She wants to be happy at her work. I can't blame her, I loved the job I just left. She started two days after I started mine. They have her doing oil changes and some tire repairs. She come home very dirty, but happy. It seems she has developed a bit of an attitude problem. Teri keeps telling me it is me, not her. If it is true, it is best I keep my distance for a little while. She doesn't have the ability to turn down the anger or the ability to apologize. I wonder if something is going on at work or in her life to cause her to act out like this. I asked her to sit down this morning on the bed and asked her about work and her life and if something is going on without using those words. She said work is great, everything else is fine. I hope I don't look back on this peroid of time and ask why I didn't see it coming. I really believe something is going on with her. It might be just her feeling a sense of independence or maybe she feels lost and alone, or somewhere in between, or maybe it's nothing at all. A couple of days before she started her job, I started mine. I loved my old job, but it was time to leave. While training my replacement I told her I would be going through all of the issues she is going through in a week, and I have. I've gone from knowing the system backward and forwards to being lost on the new one. My new bosses keep telling me repation, repation, repation and so I continue on, Now all that has to happen is Teri find a new job. /

Old Dogs and more memories

This is Memorial Day weekend. It is special for so many reasons. Elena and I start new jobs this week, Teri had surgery on this past Tuesday and they kept her over night when it was supposed to be in and out, but she is fine and she says her pain is manageable.

I bought Misha to the vet on Saturday before the parade.I was surprised at how good of a car dog she is considering how she doesn't like new and different. The vet gave her steroids to help with her failing back legs. Athena is over weight and can not get up on the bed. Since Teri's surgery, I pick Athena up and put her on the bed. And Bandi is old and blind. He is less mean since he gone almost blind. I'm afraid we'll lose all three in a short peroid of time. Yesterday for the first time in two years the Memorial Day parade was held. It was overcast and it on and off rained for a while. Teri didn't go, Nastia was at work, so I asked Elena to go with me we get down to the corner. The

crowds are sparse. It is raining after all. Elena and I stand there and watch the parade.It is sparsely attended and it is small parade. There were two bands, both adults. There were no school bands, but the girl scouts, the boy scouts and the little leagues were there. COVID after effects, I guess. Elena talked about being in the parade one year. I reminded her she held the banner for Conger's Elementry school.The school no longer exists, it's now a learning center. About half way through the parade a train stops the back half for about five minutes. Elena had talked about a train coming and crashing into the parade. I did grocery shopping. Teri is not suppose to do any lifting for a while, so after the parade I waited for the rain to stop. Instead it got harder and harder. I told Teri I was not going to go today. We had a little discussion about it, Teri pointing out the sales ended today and I said my ark is in the shop. I got into my car and started towards New City because I think Rt 303 and Rt 59 would be flooded. At the corner of Kings Highway and Congers Rd there is a river, so I turn around. Later around 5PM, I go with Nastia and yes we spend too much money. Heading back I want to drop off the groceries at the house before we go to West Nyack. Nastia said don't, mom would just say not to go, so we went to both ShopRites looking for dog food and yes Teri did ask "Why it took so long?" and say, "I told you not to go to both, and did you find any?"

Once a long time ago I came home in a bad mood. I didn't know it and I have told the story several times. The girls were going for a walk, dinner was almost ready. I told them not to go. Elena, in retrospect must have been in a bad mood too because she verbally came at me and she doesn't know how to back away. I guess it is a defensive mechanism when she was helpless in the orphanage. A 'never again' thing and I guess that is were the gym comes in too. The night I had to resist with all my might for putting her through a wall. Sunday, she come home from her last day at ShopRite, changes and went out. From upstairs Teri yells down "She didn't vacuum her room!" I said, "call her." Teri replys,"you." Without a thought, I do. In our conversation, I don't get angry. I've menationed why. She keeps saying she'll do it when she gets home. I keep telling her she was suposed to do it before and needs to come back and do it. She gets angry and tells Matt. "Turn around, so he'll shut up." I felt the angry boil inside me. She'd said something to me deeply disrespectful and I knew the best place for me was not to be there when she came home, I call to Teri, "I'm going for a drive." She asked why and I tell her. I rush out of teh house forgetting my phone and my hat. As I'm leave hoping I'm hoping I don't pass her on the road. I drive down South Conger Road until the end not knowing where I'm going, I remember Teri wants Potato salad from Valley Cottage Deli. I go there to get it and a sandwich for me. I visit my mother until I'm sure she is gone. At this point I think I am doing a good thing. I really don't want to get angry at her and possibly​ put her through a wall. I think I have done the smart prudent thing until Wednesday three days later when Elena says what I think is a very disrespectful thing to Teri and I come into the kitchen where she is and tell her so. Teri asks me,"Why do you hate her so?" I am so angry at that question, I turn around walk out and throw my shoes down into the cellar. I hear Teri say something about sticking a knife in an eye and I turn around and storm into the kitchen and tell her to do it and get it over with and storm out. I turn around and tell her, "I assume you were talking about me" and leave. We both do our best to get past the event. Lately we've been pretty good together. Elena starts her new job at the tire place in New City on Thursday. Maybe she is up tight about it. I'll never know because she'll never tell. Either way she came home tonight and said she had a good day and they asked her to change tires and to drive a couple of standard shift cars into the bays. She said she didn't know how to drive standard. I wish I had a car to teach her. /

Time Passages

It's an older persons lament, "it seems like it was yesterday." I was in working on Elena's room, and yes to me it seems like I started that yesterday. I was painting the door jam and trim from her room to the future and past office. Up and down the trims I went, going back to parts of the trim I'd painted earlier making sure there were no drips and what was still visable of the fancy part of the trim was not more obscured. On an up stroke I come face to face with the lines I put on the door jam for the heights of the girls. Nastia's on the left, Elena's on the right. They start on 9-18-2010, Nastia at 53 inches and Elena at 53 inches. I stop a few days before Christmas in 2015. Elena had gone from the previous year's 62 inches to 63 1/2 inches. Nastia had fallen behind her sister and quit growing. In 2013 she was 60 inches, 2014 60 1/2. In 2015 there is no mark because she was still the same height. She was not at all pleased. I was in Target with Nastia the other day when she said she needs pants. I say ok and she makes a right turn and I follow. She heads into the childrens section, towards the jeans. She measure pant up against herself, some fit others are a little short. She looks at me and says, "It sucks shopping in the kids section, but for ten bucks, you can't go wrong." I laugh and try to imagine what that must be like. She looks over at the underwear and says, "I need adult underwear." and walks away. Another fun time passages, hey I'm getting slow and forgetful. I could have started this whole column off talking about the song time passages by Al Stewart* Well this time passages is I worked some more on Elena's room. I taped some more trim and painted around the door, where I came across some lines I drew on the door frame showing how tall the girls were getting. I remember how my

mom used to do it during the month of August we'd spend upstate. She'd draw the line at the top of our heads as we tried to stand up as tall as possible. The lines were drawn on the door frame from the kitchen to the dinning room. Then one day my dad is painting the door trim and paints over the lines, like it was nothing. I was disappointed. Back in Elena's room I painted around the pencil marks not getting to close to the lines. They can stay for a little longer.

*Time Passages Al Stewart It was late in December, the sky turned to snow All round the day was going down slow Night like a river beginning to flow I felt the beat of my mind go Drifting into time passages Years go falling in the fading light Time passages Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight Well I'm not the kind to live in the past The years run too short and the days too fast The things you lean on are the things that don't last Well it's just now and then my line gets cast into these Time passages There's something back here that you left behind Oh time passages Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight Hear the echoes and feel yourself starting to turn Don't know why you should feel That there's something to learn It's just a game that you play Well the picture is changing Now you're part of a crowd They're laughing at something And the music's loud A girl comes towards you You once used to know You reach out your hand But you're all alone, in these Time passages I know you're in there, you're just out of sight Time passages Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight Source: LyricFind Songwriters: AL Stewart / Peter White Time Passages lyrics © Spirit Music Group

Relationships- They're funny things

The last time I saw Nastia's ex-boyfriend, Brandon in person must have been sometime last summer when he came over to go swimming with Nastia at our pool. They broke up last week. Brandon saying the typical guy thing,"It's me not you, I have to work on myself." Granted, he does, but I always thought working on yourself with a partner at your side would make it easier, but that's just me. He also said, and all these, he said, she said are all second and third hand, he said she needs to grow up and I've addressed that. she does. Now Nastia is going through life all depressed, talking mono toned, you know all those, 'I've been rejected by someone feelings we have all go through. I don't know if they make us stronger, or just make us more guarded in the future when we give our love to someone again. Now here's the funny thing. Over the weekend Nastia tells me she has to be free about four PM on Saturday because she is going to the dinner. I ask, "why?" She, as she always does is cryptic, "I'm meeting someone" "who?"I ask. Well it turns out David reached out to her, she says, but I wonder, it's too coincidental. She says she blocked David a while ago after he said something that was very disrespectful, I felt. So she is going to meet David. She puts on a pair of tight jeans, and a shirt that shows her stomach. I think, "Well, she is showing him what he gave up.I guess." She drives off. About six or so, two hours later she comes home to feed the dogs and says she is going out to the mall afterwards. I ask,"why?" "I'm meeting someone?" "Who?" "David" I should have just copied and pasted the above conversation. The only difference is she is not driving, she is being pick up by David. I'm doing yardwork and I really don't want to talk to him. I know the pull of past relationship, I really do, but I do'nt want someone in her life who puts her third in his life. I've talked about that hierarchy before. So I quit weed wacking and go inside. After a while so does she, which I was glad for. Waiting outside for him is so desperate looking and it gives me flash backs to when they were going out. Eventually I go back out and I'm working as far from the road as I can get when he shows up in what looks like the same car he drove when he was dating Nastia two or so years ago. I ignore his arrival,hoping he'll do the same. A few moments later he is waving to me a few feet from me. I reluctantly turn off the weed wacker and be socialable to him. I'm uncomfortable and I can imagine so is he, BUT HE MADE THE SUPREME EFFORT TO SAY HELLO TO ME!! I couldn't have made it too much more difficult then I did. A big difference from the most recent ex. They go off and she comes back about 10:30. She says she is tired and goes up to bed. Elena, I noticed the other day has a hickey, a small one, but a hickey on her neck. And on Sunday, She bought home some clams and made them. She put some aside for Matt to come by and pick up. Yeah, I guess they're just good friends. wink,wink,nudge,nudge* *Monty Python reference /

Nastia and her boyfriend split up.

I have mixed emotions about this. I didn't think they were right for each other, but Nastia is the type of person who needs to be in a relationship. And when she is she goes full out for it. She makes most of the sacrifices. The problem with the two of them is both of them are looking for someone to take care of them. Her ex-boyfriend is a moma's boy who went to school to become a color commentator for football games. I talked once to him about football, he was very good, but the problem is almost all of those jobs go to ex-football players or coaches. He also has Joe Muller motivation. I know you'd think after the life I'd lead that would be a very impressive...now stop laughing, it's really not that funny. I am admitting to being lazy. And a lazy person can spot another one. I wasn't surprised to hear he was big into playing X-box, or whatever they play these days. I would be doing the same if I was his age.

I did hear when he broke up with her that he said she was immature. I laughed and hear the kettle calling the pot black. Yes Nastia is immature. Spend your first years of life with an alcoholic mother, then get tossed into an orphanage at around the age of four or so, while in the process, you live for a time in a mental home, then spend several year in a better orphanage where your sister finally joins you. You suffer the abuse that I'm sure your thinking happened there and finally at the age of nine years old, having spent up to that time more then half your life in these places two stranges who don't speak your language come and take you with your sister to a strange new world where you still don't speak the language to make a new life. Now twelve years later, you speak the language, but have trouble reading it. Your first relationship was with a guy who when he came to see you, at least from my prospective put you last on the list of important people in his life. His list started with his grandparent, then is Aunt and finally you. In the last year of their relationship he'd come down from Albany for the weekend and you'd get to see him on Sunday evening before he left. Her second relationship, the current ex, she would get up in the morning and go over his house to be with him. When they were out on dates and she was the one who pointed this out before I noticed, she'd pay the majority of the bill on dates. After a while she'd make excuses for him, like he has student loan debt, he's saving for a car. Yeah, all true, but you on and off were going to school, you were working part time, not full time at a most likely union job. You were making minimum wage.

I'm not angry at him for ending the relationship. I've been on both sides of the coin and know how it hurts. I was a stupid guy when I broke up with a girl and left her the key to her apartment and a note. I'm sorry I was a stupid guy back then. So I can't fault him for breaking up with her by face timing her. He's a moma's boy, just like I was and what is done is done. I feel very deeply for the pain my daughter is going through and it is a pain most everyone of us have felt. Some of us wall off our feeling and vow never to

love again, others like Nastia will recover in their own time and go out looking for the love of their lives and when she finds it, that person will be the luckiest person in the world. When she was in the orphanage back in Russia she made a decision to be happy. I don't imagine ever being able to make that decision under those circumstances,if ever, but she did and she remains that happy person. The man who eventually loves her will receive that love back a thousand time over from her. She is an amazing, strong, loving person. Oh, God, she is a gift. /

Bowling Dinner

COVID over the last two years has caused a lot of loss. Our family has been very lucky and escaped the worst of it. The most we've endured is the girls and Teri having to take a COVID test when they were told they'd been exposed or came down with cold-like symptoms. All three have taken the test and they've come back negative, thank God. Tests and shots are plentiful these days. At the beginning of the pandemic before shots and tests were available, it was scary. This is the second time we have tried for normal. The first time we thought it was over, all the smart people had gotten their shots and the dumb ones were getting sick and dying while still proclaiming it was all a hoax, That time all the smart people doned their masks again, except for the stupid politians, like Ron DeSantis who thought they could score political points over the common good of the nation. Pardon me for a moment, I have to step off my soap box and it’s a little more difficult these days….Ok, where was I… ah yes I wanted to talk about the bowling dinner, wait, wait, don't go, I’m also going to talk about drugs. Yes, I wait for you to gather back around… ready, ok.

This past Wednesday was the first bowling dinner in two years. Last year on the last day of bowling everyone gathered around some tables at the bowling alley and trophies were handed out. It wasn’t great, but you know COVID was making a comeback. This year with consistent rumors of new variants it was a little bit of a surprise when we were informed we were having a bowling dinner. We didn’t even have a Christmas buffett. So Nastia and I picked up Jessie and arrived at La Terraza in New City just before six. Nastia and Jessie said they’d meet me inside and when they did they smelled like, well lets just say it’s legal now in New York, I think. I haven’t purchased a drink at a bar in many years. I’m waiting at the bar to get a screw driver, you know a simple vodka and orange juice. I’m fingering a ten and a five thinking which I should give the bartender when he gives me my drink. I decide on the ten, I figure less hassle, he’ll give me change. I hand him the ten and turn my back to talk with Nastia. The bartender lets me know he needs more money. So like an ass-hole I can sometimes be, I said loud and clear, “I guess you can tell what generation I’m from” and handed him five more. I take my drink and talk about the cost of drinks with a fellow bowler, who will laler buy me a drink. Very nice of him.

Nastia, wants a shot of 43, a liquor I introduced her to last year and she forgot her ID. I go to the bar to tell the bartender she only looks 12, but is really 23. He picks that time to be an ass-hole back to me and he gives me a speech about how he is not going to risk the alcohol license of this establishment, blah, blah, blah. I was past the jerk moment I caused, I guess he wasn’t. I paid for the alcohol and that was it for ordering from him. All future drinks came from the waitress who was so nice, I left her a tip at the table. Dinner was buffett style so you got to choose from all the different meals offered, which was really nice, I liked that. A salad and fried calamari with cookies for dessert rounded out the meal. Trophys and some money was handed out. A volunteer was requested, so I put up Nastia's hand. She pick out fifty-fifty tickets from the league to win envelops with varying degrees of money. Nastia picked one for $80,.00 for her and then picked one for $100.00 for me. That was awful nice of her. It was a nice night that was over by 9 PM. Nastia wanted to stay out with some of the younger people in the league, I didn’t, but we stayed for a very little while. Jessie was dropped home and it was a nice night.

A Thursday visit to NYC to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

For Teri's birthday, the girls and I gave her four tickets to Harry Potter and the cursed child. Back in February, Gabby at work told me Broadway was celebrating Broadway week for the month of February and she was going to see a play, I don't remember the name. She comes back the next day saying she had a great time. It reminded me how much I love Broadway. I used to go quite often. I hadn't bought tickets for a show for many years. THe last two shows I've seen, The book of Mormon and Jersey Boys, Teri bought. I purchased the tickets and thought March 3rd, a Thursday is a good night to go. After a few days, I decided to change the date of the tickets when I discovered that the tickets for April are ten dollars cheaper and I could give them to Teri for her birthday.

On Monday, the weather for Thursday is not looking very good. It is supposed to start raining on Wednesday,and rain on and off for the next two days. Wednesday, the rain clears late in the day, but comes back over night. Thursday morning is overcast, but dry, at least until about midday. The Yankees home opener has been canceled even before Thursday has dawned, but I remained hopeful. Teri has a doctor's appointment which would bring her home about four. I am getting out of work early and would be home by four. The girls have both taken the day off from work. Nastia has school and her boyfriend will drop her home around three.

The Curtain goes up at seven at the Lyric theater, plus we are a little short of money, so we will eat at home. Everyone is warned to eat at home. The girls and I have hot dogs, a sign of spring for me, and Teri has soup. we are ready to leave a few minutes after five. I'm thinking we'll end up standing in front of the theater for forty minutes waiting for it to open and someone will have to go. I'm determined it won't be me so I have stopped drinking anything as of three.

On a good day, you know March of 2020, high COVID you can get to the city in twenty minutes. I've gone to the city in an hour, hell, I used to be a salesman and occationally I worked in the city. I haven't been in the city much in the last eight years. Before this it was Christmas 2019, maybe when we went to see the tree. The weatherman's (or is it person in these thin skinned days) prediction for rain is, as the British would say, spot on. It's not cats and dogs, that will come later, but it is coming down. I have been married to Teri for twenty-seven years. When we talked about going to Hawaii for our twenty-fifth it seemed far away. Now it's in the past. In all of those years I've learned several things important about Teri. First and formost she is an awful passenger. I would rather let her drive if I could. II enjoy driving and I enjoy driving most of the time in the city. With all of that in mind, oh, yes Teri doesn't enjoy driving in the city or in the rain. The short of it is I'm driving, Teri is not, it's raining and she is not going to enjoy the trip, but I'll try.

I pull out driving Elena's car. She has a nice car, a Honda CRV. We are using it because there might be an extra charge for SUV's parked in garages. The gas tank is full and I'm taking it slow. The rain patters against the windshield, I'm a little tense, but life is good and we are on an adventure. I make a needless turn onto New Lake road in Valley Cottage because Teri doesn't like that hill on Storms road. I take Rt 303 all the way down into Orangeburg, then the on ramp for the Palisades, I'm driving the prefered route that Teri likes. We first hit traffic at the toll booths for the George Washington Bridge. All of us are a little shocked at the sixteen dollar price for the bridge. We inch our way toward the bridge. Traffic breaks a little on the bridge and we make a little time crossing. We have an hour to get to West forty-third. We'll park on forty-forth and walk around the block.

The West side is slow, but it moves. Rain continues to fall. I wait to make a left until I hit the forty-forth street exit. I remember when they were taking down the elevated expressway back in the 70-80's and what a mess it was. I'm driving into the city remembering it when Mike Bloomberg ran it. The last eight years and COVID have changed it. It feels like the 80's. Garbage piled on the sidewalks, cars blocking cross streets. I tell Teri this, she thinks I'm over reacting, I don't, it's not the same city. We get stuck at Tenth Avenue as car going down town will not leave an opening for the cross street (Where are the Police to keep it open??) I make a frustated turn to the right, the first rash decision and the first time Teri has seen my city driving. I dial it back down looking for a left to make to get back on course. A few streets late we are south of where we want to be and running out of time. I make a right onto fortieth street and we locate a parking garage. We are a few blocks south of the theater, it's in walking distance. Rain is light, but bearable

We arrive at the theater with fifteen minutes to spare, the rain has stopped. Well in time, I think. I forget about the COVID protocols the theater district is still using. We arrive at the theater looking at the head of the line. We start walking and wewalk and we walk. As we are waking I remember I read that the Lyric theater was build in something like 1904 and seats about 1600 people. I think 1550 people must already be in line. It does move pretty quickly. They have been praticing this seven days a week for a while. Vaccine card, license. bag check and finally ticket check.

Inside the theater, it is beautiful. We walk past the bar and the refreshment stand. The voice of Julie Andrews in in the backround telling us we only have two minutes until curtain. I hate being late for the curtain. A quick bathroom stop and we make our seats. We are two seats off the isle and twenty-two rows back. THey are good seats, but not great seats. Great seats would have cost alot more. I'm just happy to be here on this wet Thursday evening at seven O'clock. The curtain goes up. When there is a lul in the action on the stage people are let in to take their seats. Some are quit, other are noisy like the people of to the right of us, in front. Have a little respect people!!

The play used to run over two nights. Post COVID it as been shrunk down to one night, three and a half hours. The story is about the possibility that Voldamore had a child and the lives of Harry, Ron, Herminie and Ginny and their kids twenty years after the defeat of Voldamort. I can see what used to make up the first night of the play.It is the first years Albus and his friend spent at Hogworts. It is quickly high lighted and we are moved on to the second night quickly. It seems people are starting to believe Voldamort had a child and some believe Draco Malfoy who had trouble having a child used a time turner to go back in time and did something, maybe Voldamort is the father. Harry and his youngest son don't understand each other and Albus has made friends with Draco's son whos is as lost as Albus.

As much as I don't approve of JK Rawlings any more, she is still a very good writer. The stage craft where charactors go back in time and it looks like the whole stage vibrates and a sound wave makes the scenary move are amazing. I'd really like to know how they do it. At intermission one of the girls ask, "Is that it?" I say "no, it's just half time" Teri goes toward the bathroom. Nastia grabs my shirt at the arm and guides me toward where the bar and concessions are. Elena follows behind. They are both hungry. I warn them the concessions are going to be expensive. I point out the bar and get a no and then I point to the refreshment area. The three of us get on a short line and they are introduced to $12.00 popcorn and $6.00 bottles of water. Now neither of these items are huge. The water is maybe twelve ounces and th epopcorn is maybe a liter. But they are hungry. I pass, I don't want to spend the money. I head toward the rest rooms after guiding the girls back to the seats. I have to remember their only other time at the theater was the Lion King and that has to be ten years ago and I'm sure they don't remember it. I head toward the men's room with Julie Andrews in the backround telling everyone four minutes until curtin. I see Teri on line. She waves and asks if I can get her a water. I make a u turn and head toward the concession stand again. It was a quick trip and I'll also get her a white wine at teh bar I have so much time. Back at the concession stand, the line is long and slow and Julie Andrews is saying two minutes until curtain. People paying the cashiers are slow and not organized. I change plans and pick up a popcorn and a water for Teri, not wine. I'm at the cashier, Julie Andrews is telling me to hurry the F@$k up, it's almost curtain. I'm orgainized it takes only seconds and I'm off to my seat. I met Teri on my way to the seats. We disturbe the two people in the isle seats and are seated. Julie Andrews is saying it is about time, the curtain is going up.

In the dark past when I used to go to the theater alot, I'd enjoy walking down to the front of the theater to see the stage up close. This time I didn't get the chance. Curtain rises and the play continues. I look over at Elena and Nastia, both are glued to the stage and are really enjoying the play. I hope this starts something and they go to Broadway in the future. I also hope they can afford it. I forgot to say when looking for tickets I checked out the Musicman with Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster, tickets were $700.00 a seat mid orchestra. Tickets for tonight are lower and further back, but are still $240.00 a seat.

Like any wonderful night the show has to end. It is a great show and I start to stand up to clap. I hear Nastia say me should leave now. I'm a little pissed that she doesn't want to show the cast some apprication, but I've also forgotten this is their first time at a play in ten years and don't know better. I struggle to stand up. My bad knee and seats designed for small people make it difficult. I clap as each group of cast members appear on the stage and bow. A single cast member appears on stage asking for donations to the Broadway cares. Elena is asking something and I can't hear. I tell her to shut up. I regret it as some as I say it and tell her I'm sorry. I feel real bad and don't want to ruin this night. It's about 10:45, Teri want to hit the rest rooms once more and I'm following with Nastia and Elena when Nastia realizes she has lost her boyfriends Atlanta Falcons hat. It's no big loss, it's still teh wrong team on the hat, but we go back for it. I tell Elena towait for her mom. Back at the seats there is no hat. Nastia gets down on hands and knees, still no hat. We leave the empty theater going to find lost and found when we hear someone talking about losing something and do they have it. We head to the small group and the hat is recovered.

We find each other at the stairs for the restrooms, work our way out the doors into the weather. It is raining again or is it still at this point. It's not too bad. We stop to take a few pictures and we head off in the direction of the parking garage. I'm in the lead. I pride myself on my sense of direction, it is usually very good. We arrived at the theater for a certain direction and are leaving in that direction, everything is good, but the stores don't look familar. We walk through Time Square and I remember it in the backround when we parked, so it should be good. I stop and ask for a picturewith the Hard Rock Cafe in teh backround. The rain is not bad and everyone complies. The rain starts to get harder and I'm having more doubt we are heading in the right direction. I start to get flash backs to when Teri and I went to Philadelphia for the day and spent a couple of hours getting to our car bacause I walked us in the wrong direction. I stop and check the ticket for the parking garage. I put the address into my phone and I realize we are heading in the slight wrong direction. The rain is getting heavier. We continu on, it rains even heavier, it finally reached cats and dogs heavy. We stop under a large portico and get out of the rain. Teri asks if we are heading in the right direction. I tell her yes. It's Nastia and I in the lead, Elena and Teri bring up the rear. We are soaked, so even if God is throwing buckets of water at us now we are going onward. We turn onto 40th and the end of our journey is in sight. Nastia and I have gotten ahead of Teri and Elena. I'm so focused on the garage that I am even out pacing Nastia. I don't care. I want to get to the car and pay for it so when everyone arrives the wait is short, or so I tell myself. I pay for the car. Nastia turns the corner into the garage. We wait for the guy to get our car. A few moments later Teri and Elena arrive. It is still pouring. We wait in an empty garage for our car. I have fifteen dollars in my hand to give the guy. After a while I take a five away. We are still waiting. An Uber driver on a bike comes in and a guy gets on the car lift with him and goes up, we are still waiting. I'm considering taking the ten away and giving the five when the lift show up with our car. I hand him the ten and we get in.

There is always a comfort getting into your car when you've been out in the city. Tonight, even more so. I slowly drive to the garage door and flick on my wipers as we hit the rain. I make three right hand turns and head toward the Westside Highway. I have trouble seeing the white lines and I resist saying this is 1980's New York. On the Westside the rain is still hard and we splash through the occational puddle. Across the G.W. Bridge all is well. It's almost midnight. I decide to get off at the 303 exit on the Palisades. Rt 303 seems more direct to home. The rain has cloesed Rt, 303, back on the Palisades. Teri said it would be better to go to the thruway and this time I listen to her. Back at home it's 12:30, maybe later and I'm the last one getting into bed. It's been a night of memories that I hope everyone will remember for a lifetime. /