Every morning POB (partner of blogger) brings a mug of coffee for me and puts it on my bedside table, so I have coffee as I am waking up.  I am a lucky person.

I am especially lucky this morning because the coffee is delicious and warm and my body is stiff and sore from my run yesterday and our son bounds into our bed and lunges over me to get the remote control lest we miss one moment of the senseless cartoons available to numb our children’s minds. Warm coffee (as opposed to piping hot) spills all over my jammies.  Even if it were piping hot, I may not have been able to move. POB is already dressed and going out to get some groceries.  No wonder I am tired.  POB’s schedule is enough to exhaust TWO people.

I speak to my cousin who is recovering from major surgery and he says some chicken soup would do him good.  What does POB do?  Starts making chicken soup.  I need a nap now and it isn’t even 10am.

By 10:45am, I am able to limp into the shower.  Then we dash off to our son’s schoolmate’s birthday party.  New school, new friends, new challenges.  Our son is a little scared. We go to the amusement park and we meet up with the group and all is good.  Except amusement parks remind me of horror flicks, sad clowns and freaky sideshows.  There is an odd, clown-like man working at this place and I am as fascinated by him as I am ooked out. 

Then pizza and cake and chaotic running around.  The kids are so friendly and I can see that our son feels right at home.  He has a crush on one girl whom he has known for many years — more than a crush really, because even though he is 7, he asked her to marry him and she said yes.  But he is talking up another girl, too.  Bad form, dude.  It is your first week, so be circumspect with the girls.  The other girl’s mom says that her daughter and my son may be competing for the affections of the same girl. I think, wow, this place is too groovy and hip for words.  But I can tell already that there are back stories.  I’ll ease into those.  For now, I am happy because my son is happy.

POB and I are so happy that we do not want to ruin the moment by discussing wedding plans.  As founding members of the Bridezombies, we have to set a standard for detail avoidance.  We set a high standard.  We are proud.

Family dinner tonight, but my sister and brother-in-law bag out.  My sister cannot seem to follow doctor’s orders (even though she is a doctor) and her foot is not healing.  She over-exerted and now can’t move.  Let’s work through this problem together.

Let’s say you are a competent doctor (as in you didn’t get your medical degree from the internet) and another doctor whom you respect (as in it is ok for the doctor to examine you but not cut into you) tells you to use a cane and stay off your feet as much as possible.  Then let’s say you have a conference where if you were really healthy you would stand all day and present an interesting case (work with me here; I know we are talking about diseases).  So, even though you aren’t healthy, you stand all day and don’t use a cane. 

Ok, so maybe my sister did get her medical degree from the internet.

Bottom line, Sis and the Man cannot come to Sunday night dinner.  I call them afterward to tell them about the fun and the food they missed so they feel really bad.  It is, in fact, the least I could do.  My brother-in-law sends a grovelling email.  A little more grovelling ought to do the trick.

A young cousin comes over.  My son wants to know why he didn’t become a professional hockey player since he played in college.  I want to know, too, because he is depriving the extended family of an element necessary to the true American family.  We need a sports star.  We already have doctors, lawyers, artists, entrepreneurs, felons (ok, only one), mixed marriages, gays and lesbians (ok, only one), etc.  What a crowning achievement for a Jewish family to have a member who suits up in armor and carries a club to do battle on ice and someone keeps score.  But, he is taking the easy way out and going to school, going into debt, to become a professional.  So old school.  Still, he is a lovely guy and it will be great to see more of him.

I am so happy to have (some of) my family together around my table.  I think wistfully of a bigger gathering, one that includes my sick cousin, my dear cousin who is his niece, all together.  I know my cousins who are uncle and niece need to work out their issues, but I love them both and family is so precious.