People I want to be like when I'm old(er).
I can't believe I didn't write about that 90th birthday party! The honoree was a woman who was a close friend of my parents. She and her husband and my folks all went to the University of Chicago together; her husband and my father were both Ph.D. candidates in the chemistry department. They had three daughters, as did my parents, and we were approximately the same age. She baby-sat us when we were young enough to need that, and she was always dressed to the nines, so we called her "the fancy lady"! (We were kids - what did we know?) When my parents went to Europe for three weeks one year during school time, I stayed with their family. When they moved to the 'burbs because of his job while their youngest was in her last year of high school, she lived with us so she could finish school with her classmates. After my father died, she and her husband continued the tradition of Fourth of July picnics my dad had started in the neighborhood, down to the shish kebabs. So you can see why we all wanted to attend.
Two of J.'s daughters now live in California, the third lives in England. They all came in for the occasion, along with a couple of spouses, some kids and grandkids and even a great-grandchild. A lot of old familiar faces were there. Greetings were sent from various people who couldn't come, and from organizations such as the Chicago Architecture Foundation, of which she was a founder.
The retirement home where J. lives now (having given up her Frank Lloyd Wright home a few years ago, making sure it went to someone who would appreciate it) served an excellent dinner, and we toasted her with the contents of some of the remaining bottles of sherry her husband had made. (It wasn't very good in the first place, and after all these years was pretty bad, but in sentiment it had no equal!)
And J. was the chic-est, best-looking woman in the room, as always.
I was reminded of the party because this evening I was at another event, a benefit for Haiti thrown by the Haitian American Lawyers Association and some other legal organizations, and one of the honorary chairs was retired Judge George Leighton, 97 and still going strong.
In other things, I went to an amazing concert Monday night, the Monteverdi Vespers with Bella Voce and the Callipygian Players. (I do not know why they are called that. It seems an odd name for a group of musicians!) I had actually thought about going to the same concert the previous night at Rockefeller Chapel, as hearing it in a sacred space would have added a dimension to it that you don't get at a concert hall. But considering how tired I was on Sunday, it was probably just as well that I didn't.
Two of J.'s daughters now live in California, the third lives in England. They all came in for the occasion, along with a couple of spouses, some kids and grandkids and even a great-grandchild. A lot of old familiar faces were there. Greetings were sent from various people who couldn't come, and from organizations such as the Chicago Architecture Foundation, of which she was a founder.
The retirement home where J. lives now (having given up her Frank Lloyd Wright home a few years ago, making sure it went to someone who would appreciate it) served an excellent dinner, and we toasted her with the contents of some of the remaining bottles of sherry her husband had made. (It wasn't very good in the first place, and after all these years was pretty bad, but in sentiment it had no equal!)
And J. was the chic-est, best-looking woman in the room, as always.
I was reminded of the party because this evening I was at another event, a benefit for Haiti thrown by the Haitian American Lawyers Association and some other legal organizations, and one of the honorary chairs was retired Judge George Leighton, 97 and still going strong.
In other things, I went to an amazing concert Monday night, the Monteverdi Vespers with Bella Voce and the Callipygian Players. (I do not know why they are called that. It seems an odd name for a group of musicians!) I had actually thought about going to the same concert the previous night at Rockefeller Chapel, as hearing it in a sacred space would have added a dimension to it that you don't get at a concert hall. But considering how tired I was on Sunday, it was probably just as well that I didn't.