Page 669 - WhyAsInY

finals
To date, the greatest combination was achieved on November 1, 2014, when for the first time, Kathy and I entertained—by family unit, in descending order of seniority—Danny, Melissa, Jesse, and the new- born, Felix; Peter and Chris (and about-to-be-born-nineteen-days-later, Caitlyn); Dan, Molly, and Charlie (with, unbeknownst to us, the idea of Anna about to be conceived); Rachel, Joe, Maya, and Elijah; and David, Anna, and Elliott. They all stayed at our home in Roxbury for, what was for us, a glorious Saturday and Sunday. Always the prudent pair, Kathy and I left the sleeping accommodations in our house to our offspring and theirs, and we repaired to the Hidden Valley Bed and Breakfast, where we enjoyed peace and quiet in beautiful surroundings but made sure to leave 7 Garnet late on Saturday night and to return early on Sunday morning.
The purpose of our family party was to celebrate three things: our soon-to-be twenty-fifth wedding anniversary (in commemoration of which our children presented us with a very generous gift certificate for a stay at the Ocean House, our favorite hotel, which sits on the beach in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, where we enjoy the surf), my seventieth birthday (in commemoration of which our children presented me with a first edition of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake), and, most of all, our good fortune in having such a beautiful family.
As it turns out, November 1, 2014, marked three score and ten years to the day that, ready to get this story started, my mother, née Justine Louise Caplan (“Caplan with a C”), arrived at what, you’ll recall, she later told me was the very finest maternity hospital in Manhattan, Doc- tor’s Hospital. As I said, it wasn’t exactly supposed to happen as it did, but no matter, everything seems to have worked out well in the end. If to any extent it hasn’t, I willingly take the blame.
It’s been a wonderful ride, and now, even though this might seem to some to be a very long book, I am really looking forward to the next chapters. Yes, I say, yes.
Naples–Palm Springs–Montecito–Roxbury, 2013–2016
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