Reunion Snapshots

— Jackie’s hair is blonde, short and sexy. She looks fantastic. It appeared to me that she may have been wearing Revlon “Coffee Bean” lipstick, but I can’t be sure. Sooo good to see her.

— It was so heartwarming to see Stuart, Jackie’s husband. The guy is incredible, and … have to say it … kind of makes my heart fill up with emotion. He’s so warm, so kind and … so funny. I love him for loving Jackie, and I am glad he is in my life.

— Their kids are AMAZING. I had never met the littlest one. And I can’t believe how big and grown-up the oldest one is now.

— Children. Everywhere. Driving mini-cars, swinging, sudden bursts of screaming and crying, tears flowing, 5 minutes later: all is happy again in kids-land. They all watched Monsters, Inc. They drew with chalk in the driveway.

— “Dumb Donald” made an appearance. Dumb Donald has been a character in all of our lives for twenty years. My friend Brett (he of “Mexico: the Flower of Europe” fame) started becoming “Dumb Donald” way back in college. Dumb Donald wears a fur hat, and just stands around dumbly, arms hanging limply, trying to be friends with us. Dumb Donald is supremely annoying, and he can show up at ANY TIME. Brett will be sitting around with us, normal as ever, talking, laughing … then he’ll disappear without notice for a couple of seconds. Conversation continues, life goes on, and suddenly Brett reappears, only now he is wearing the fur hat, and now he is obviously Dumb Donald. We immediately begin to abuse Dumb Donald. At first we TRY to be nice … but it’s a pose. “Hey, Don … uhm … how did you get here? Were you invited, or …” and then, as Dumb walks around, limply, with big dumb bug eyes gleaming, trying to bond with us … our meanness escalates. We turn Dumb Donald into our servant, because we know he won’t complain. We boss him around. We send him out of the room. We make Dumb get us drinks. We make Dumb Donald throw out our paper plates. We call him, “Dummy”. The game escalates until, of course, someone says something WAAAAAYYYY beyond the pale, and we all erupt into laughter and the game ends. So yesterday, barbecue is happening. Life is wonderful. And then suddenly … Brett emerges from the house, wearing THE fur hat, Dumb Donald in all his glory. Dumb Donald acts primarily as the recipient of all of our latent aggression. It’s really kind of a sick game, actually, but we have not yet tired of it, and it’s been going on for twenty years. The fact that Brett BROUGHT THE DUMB DONALD HAT to the barbecue is all you need to know about why I love this man, and why we have been friends for so long.

— We all watched David’s commercials (the Reebok ads series) – David as this hyped-up guy named Larry, trying to bond with the professional athletes who live in his neighborhood. Dion Branch. Mike Vrable. Tim Wakefield. We all laughed and clapped – it’s a great series of spots, really funny. Mike Vrable inadvertently knocks David into the grill, David crashes to the ground. Mike tries to help him up, and David – mortified – says something like, “It’s just football, man.” David got to play catcher to Tim Wakefield’s pitches. So fun. David made us watch the spots twice … so we could revel in the subtlety of his acting. “Okay, now watch the little moment I have when Dion says …” I love how David’s character in the commercial breezily calls Tim Wakefield “Wake”. hahahaha So cool! New Englanders, keep your eyes open for the commercials. They play multiple times during all Red Sox games.

— David was master grill man. Ribs. Chicken. Dee-lish.

— The weather cooperated. Beautiful cool afternoon and night. The chalk marks gleaming on the black driveway.

— After the throngs left, David, Maria (his wife), Mitchell and I sat around the patio table, and watched Emma (David and Maria’s daughter) do cartwheels and roundoffs for us, as the twilight fell. Emma, her face glowing, dirt stains on her lavendar corduroys, leaping and flipping through the long green grass.

— Peace.