Page 664 - WhyAsInY

Why (as in yaverbaum)
only a prince, a banker, a philanthropist, and an author but also a claim- ant to the leadership of the Imperial House of Russia, being the great-great-grandson of Czar Nicholas I and the grandson of the brother of Czar Nicholas II, who, I might add, was murdered in a cellar by Bol- sheviks, some of whom were undoubtedly Jews.
Now, my mother had taught me a lot about etiquette (say “please,” “thank you,” and, most useful of all, “excuse me”), or at least she had tried to, but how to talk to royalty had not made the list. What to do? Well, the Prince’s birthday champagne and gracious open manner had made things much less stiff than I had expected, but neither the champagne nor the easy manner can explain how it came to pass that, during one lull in the conversation, I found myself turning to Prince Dimitri and saying, “You know, my grandparents also came from Russia.” (Do you think that our dinner at the captain’s table will make it into the Prince’s autobiography? I’d say that the odds in favor are pretty high, wouldn’t you?)
After we returned from what will probably not be the last of our cruises, Kathy was ready, very ready, for her retirement. We put 12D on the market, and, before we rode into the sunset at 7 Garnet, I was very pleased and proud to attend a very well-attended cocktail party at the Harmonie Club, at which both the president of Continuum and the chairman of its board spoke eloquently, sincerely, gratefully, glowingly, and at length of the merits of their then departing General Counsel and Executive Vice President. I could not have been more proud.
The party was on June 7, 2011, and, within a few weeks, we had moved to Roxbury, where we now reside full time, and, contrary to Kathy’s concern that we would not meet any new friends, our social life is quite satisfactory. The trains are now virtually complete (with the help of countless talented people), Kathy’s garden is beautiful during the spring and summer, I had a photo exhibition during the summer of 2016, and our life is truly enhanced. Neither of us regrets retiring at all. Indeed, we love retirement and, especially, Sunday evenings, when we are not filled with the feelings of apprehension that we had both experi- enced when our offices formed a central part in our lives.
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