Denver

Whoosh! I'd be a mess if this had been a full schoolday. The past week was pretty tough, and this weekend we flew to Denver and back. You heard right--quickie 24-hour trip. We were visiting our cousins Bev and Moe. They're on Dad's side of the family. Strange--we've always been closer to Dad's family than Mom's. We keep up with Diane and Jac and the rest of the clan over in Israel, but we don't often see the relatives in Ohio. In fact, I think I was surprised when I learned that we had relatives in Akron. Mom just isn't as close with her family as Dad is to his. A story she likes to tell about Grandma Barbara and Grandpa Sandy is when Dad introduced her to them, they just opened their doors. "Welcome." And, well, I guess you've heard about the stuff that's gone down recently. Oh wait--I didn't tell you the lastest adventure. But that can wait a moment. First, Denver.

Moe looked much better than I expected. After watching Grandpa Sandy slowly decline over the years, and watching Grandma Betty fall apart completely, I expected him to be bedridden. Or something. But he looked like a healthy old man--just one with an oxygen tank. He also had some trouble moving around (he used a wheelchair and walker), but that I'm used to because Grandpa Sandy always needed a walker or cane because he had lost a leg to diabetes.

We went to this Tex/Mex bar and hung out. I think it might have once been owned by the family. Here's the thing--the dinner with the relatives was also a business meeting with some of Bev's associates. Well, I say meeting--it was more like a get-together between people in the same business. I felt odd--kind of like the city cousin come to visit the small town cousin, God forgive me for saying. But really, it did feel odd. I don't go to bars (being a minor and not liking alcohol anyways) and I don't like Tex/Mex. That, and I was tired after a 3-4 hour plane ride. I also had this lingering, awful headache--probably from altitude sickness.

Still, it was nice to see the family. Missy had a baby almost a year ago--Zoe. And she's ADORABLE!!! But you know me--I go bonkers over wittle babies. Must be a girl thing or something. Zoe is surprisingly quiet--she didn't really cry or complain about anything. Just pointed or reached for the person she wanted to hold her. But she walks very well already and has two teeth! Eeeeeee!! Debbie is also pregnant via artifical insemination. The baby's due in July. Maybe then we can go out there for a longer visit. Well, maybe not me--Mom wants me to stay in Israel when the school Israel trip finishes. Complete immersion, etc. (Dad's not so excited).

Anyway, Bev took us down to her glasses store. It's really remarkable--she gets these glasses from all over the world, and they look NOTHING like the boring old frames you see in most stores. You get these crazy, goofy European glasses that are just darling. For example, one of the pairs I just got has this lacy red frame--it's kind of hard to describe, but it's adorable. Mom says it's like going into a candy shop, and she's right. The shop is amazing. Thing is, when people talk to you, they usually look you in the eye. So glasses can make a big impression if they're the right kind. Which is why it's so important to get a good set of glasses. I believe in the value of looking good (though I don't always follow through on that value!), though one should not go over the top. Just make a small effort to look nice, because it makes a much better impression on the rest of the world. Heh heh--listen to me going on like some fashion mogul. I don't really follow fashion--just buy the clothes I think look nice. I suppose this comes from being the granddaughter of a textiles businessman (Grandpa Sandy).

Anyway, I asked Moe how they got into the glasses business, and he said they'd been working in it for twenty-some years. They were involved in importation mainly at first. Later they got a factory--a bad decision, Moe said. Later, when importation became very expensive ("you needed a lot of money to import," to quote Moe) they set up the glasses store in this small mall in Denver. All of their kids live in Denver, which is very nice, I think.

You have to understand--our family in general is spread all over the States. Texas, for example, and Ohio, Conneticut, South Carolina, and of course our little clump in the DC area. Grandma Betty and Grandpa Ben live up in Baltimore, Uncle Jeff lives in a suburb, and Uncle Steve lives...somewhere near. I think in Virginia. Like I said, we don't keep up as much as a family with Mom's brothers, not because there's a family split, but because they're just not close. Though they've been calling each other a lot with this crisis over Grandma and Grandpa.

There's also the overseas family. I think Mom has a cousin in Hong Kong, but I don't know anything about him. Ben-Ari actually comes from the Israeli side of the family, but he moved to Toronto to get a medical degree (med school in Israel is very crowded, probably because all the mothers want their kids to grow up to be nice Jewish doctahs). He met and married Eve there, and they've just had a baby--Noam--so I'm pretty certain they're rooted there. Then, of course, there's not one but TWO branches of the Mazer/Goldberg clan in Israel. Ben-Ami and his wife moved there even before 1948 I believe (not certain, though) and lived on a Moshav. Later Diane and Jac moved there with their kids. Most of the family still lives around Jerusalem, I believe, except for Haley, who married Danny and moved out to the West Bank. Near Nablus. Yeah. Tough situation. I'd like to see them when I go to Israel, but Mom will never let me go out to the West Bank. I wish they would move in-- at the very least to the bloc near Jerusalem. What should I say--go abandon the place you've spent most of your life in and move somewhere else? I love Haley and the kids, but we don't talk politics with them.