It's not my birthday. That's
not 'til Thursday. Nevertheless we are gathered at La
Madre's to celebrate said birthday. Last week, when we
were gathered there for Szilvia's birthday, I suggested
combining my birthday with Easter so we would only have
to have one hundred year flood or blizzard. However, the
opportunity to increase the probability of a hundred year
flood or blizzard
by having two family gatherings within 7 days of my
birthday appeals to some sort of risk-taking streak that
runs in the family. The rain seems to have stopped short
of the hundred year flood level as of last night, for
now. We did forget to factor in the effect of this
strategy on Pedro Martinez's pitching, but I'm getting
way ahead of myself here.
Backtracking to the real reason for
all these family gatherings-- what you thought my
birthday was the real reason? -- besides watching Pedro
on Opening Day -- BiB and Szilvia arrived last weekend on
vacation. Arrived here, that is, in the Eastern Daylight
Time Zone of North America, the Greater Big Dig Area, the
home of the bean and the cod, neither Baghdad nor
Budapest nor Bosnia for that mattter (which as well all
know is not
near Arizona). Last
weekend's family gathering was kind of hastily put
together since although BiB's latest "I'm not being blown
up in Baghdad" message did announce their arrival it
sounded kind of tentative and the itinerary was
unsettled. Anyway, after a night out on the town
(Providence) with Nancy (actually it was dinner at
Pakarang and The Triplets of Belleville at the Cable Car)
I drove up to La Madre's on Szilvia's birthday. I thought
Hungarians celebrated name days instead of birthdays but
that's neither here nor there and I don't know when Szent
Szilvia's day is anyway (there must be a Szent Szilvia,
right? -- help me out Catholic readers -- oh wait, I know
this one: the mother of Pope Gregory the Great, right?).
They were viewing random carousels of the family slides
and pretending not to have jet lag. Who knew the slide
projector still worked?
Family gathered; dinner eaten;
birthday candles blown out; cake eaten. The real reason
for the vague itinerary? They're going to DC to check out
houses and stuff like that there because BiB may have a
new job in Washington, which is nowhwere near Baghdad (or
Bosnia, which is still not near Arizona).
Cut to this weekend's family
gathering, scheduled for today instead of yesterday
because BiB got the job and they needed extra time in
Virginia. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said that, "A man
must become a part of the action and passion of his
times, lest he be judged not to have lived." Methinks
even Justice Holmes would have shied away from the Green
Zone. I for one am extremely relieved that BiB has had
enough of the action and passion of his times. Plus he
and Szilvia get to live in the same country -- the same
house even. They're showing us digital pictures of the
houses they looked at within train commute distance of
the new job (kinda out in the countryside) and I am awed
at how much house you can get for half a million down
there. You can barely get a condo for half a mil in the
Greater Big Dig Area these days, speaking of the action
and passion of our times.
Family gathered; dinner
eaten; birthday candles blown out; cake eaten. Though BiB
and I specially requested being allowed to watch the
ballgame during dinner on account of this is Opening Day,
by the time we catch up with it Pedro is already in the
midst of a very very bad second inning. The crowds at
Camden Yards look very very cold. At least it's not
raining there.
Speaking of the action and passion
of our times and the propensity for flooding within 7
days of my birthday, when I went to drop Nancy off at the
bus station tonight before the family gathering (after
would have gotten her home too late to get a cab) I hit a
pot hole on Lincoln Street. Actually it was more like a
chasm opened up by the rain. My car has developed a
definite pull to the left but at least the tire isn't
flat and the rim isn't bent.
And the rain is starting again. I
think Todd Gross on channel 7 said it's going to rain
forever. But maybe I misheard that.
I could easily have a manic episode
right about now despite the rain.
