Dear Family and Friends,
We hope you are healthy this time of year. Here in NY, the COVID rates are crazy, back to lines to get tested and wearing our masks everywhere (though so much better than where we all were a year ago). I am happy to report we are doing just fine amongst all this (fingers crossed!).
All was quiet until the end of March when I decided to have a huge bunion removed and a toe straightened. Don’t do it unless you have to!! (The fact of fainting two different times in the doctor’s office may also be a cause for some bias against it). I was back to using scooters and hopping along for months. The doctor told me about a long recovery period, and I chose not to believe it. Well, it wasn’t until this September that I was able to wear my shoes again, but all is good now.
The month of May was a busy one for us. My mom turned 80. I still can’t believe it! She certainly doesn’t look or act her age. The planning began during a winter snowstorm in January. That is when the plan was “hatched”. Mom made it very clear “No party.” So we thought outside the box. Since we all love to travel let’s take mom on a trip… stupid COVID! That wouldn’t work, so how about a trip just in a different way? We (Susan, Lauren and I) wrote and got in contact with everyone we knew that mom knew. To do that it included me sneaking into her home a couple of times while she was at work to retrieve family photos and copy her address book. We asked them to write or share a little story about mom. Next, the actual celebration. We decided to take Mom on a three-legged trip at Susan’s house in Connecticut. On May 8th, her actual birthday, the Gray family had our first flight of the trip to Spain with mock passports and seats set-up like an airplane outside in Susan’s backyard. We were virtually taking off to Spain, Mom in first class with a blanket and eating appetizers from Spain. After Spain the second flight was to Italy where the main course was Italian and the in-flight movie was the slide show all about Mom created from family and friends. Thank you to all who participated. It was loved by everyone and a special shout out to Lauren and my niece Ali for putting the movie together. The last flight was back home to NY, where we had desserts from New York, cheesecake, black and white cookies, etc. All the grandkids gave my mom the New York Times book which has the front page of May 8 of the NYT from the past 80 years. She loved our trip and book! The festivities didn’t end there…
Rebecca graduated from UConn two days later. She was able to walk at graduation and we celebrated by having a lovely party in Connecticut with the family. It was a whirlwind of a weekend and was so much fun! Two awesome celebrations within two days.
In June, Rebecca had a summer internship at PricewaterhouseCoopers until August (she graduated as an accounting major). Brian and his partners moved into a new office space. It has more space and a great conference room and kitchen. It is just down the street from the old office however, there is much more room and has beautifully decorated offices.
Summer was calm and peaceful, hiking, going to the beach and seeing lots of friends. We were able to take a vacation to Connecticut and Massachusetts. We stayed in the Berkshires and did lots of hiking. We also attended a concert at Tanglewood to hear conductor John Williams perform with the Boston Pops. It was a wonderful experience and highly recommend going to Tanglewood for one of their outdoor concerts.
Brian being Brian decided in August that we need to “diversify our portfolio”. So he (we) decided to go into real estate. In a three-day time period we looked and bought another house. It happened very quickly, and we bought a house in Stony Brook just about a mile from my mom’s house. It wasn’t planned, it just worked out that way. Amanda and her boyfriend Justin are living there. It is a lovely three-bedroom ranch on a flat large piece of property in a great neighborhood.
At the same time, Rebecca was looking for an apartment in Manhattan with her friend Lauren. I was taking them into the city to look at various places. The rents are out of control and many apartments have no sunlight. It is hard to explain when you live in a house with lots of windows. Many apartments face another building so you look at brick or a dark alleyway. So depressing. However, they managed to find a doorman building with huge windows overlooking someone's penthouse garden. It is on Fulton Street in lower Manhattan and when you walk out of their building the Freedom Tower is right there. It is small yet cheerful.
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| No, that is not Grandma Carol becoming a bag lady, it is her keeping guard as we were moving Rebecca in and had no place to park. |
Brian had his head spinning in paperwork from buying a house and being a guarantor for the apartment. Needless to say he did it all. Both girls are in their new homes. (Making us officially empty nesters – which is sad yet fun and liberating at the same time!)
Rebecca started briefly working with Brian, but after a few weeks decided that her “soul wasn’t in it” and decided to step away from that (for the time being at least) and is now working for a market research company called Ipsos in the healthcare advisory practice as an analyst, she is virtual and is hoping that she may go into their offices soon.
In September, after moving everyone into their places, Brian and I took off for vacation. We went with our dear friends Debbie and Marty to Scottsdale, Arizona. I wanted somewhere just to relax and not do too much sightseeing. It was wonderful, we stayed at the Phoenician spa and resort and enjoyed every minute. It was the perfect combination of relaxation and sightseeing, as we also went to Sedona for a day.
In October, my friend Valerie came to visit from Colorado. I am so glad she flew out, we were joined by another great high school friend, Moira, and then we were able to meet another friend from High School, Ellen for lunch one day. We had a wonderful weekend together. It was like we were back in high school, the conversations and laughter never ended.
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| Moira, Val, and Deb |
November was a sad month for us. Quite a few people we knew passed away. One being Brian’s older cousin Bill Epstein. We go most every summer to visit him and his wife Elaine and their children Eric and Ellen to Sag Harbor. It has become an annual tradition which we continue to this day. Bill was a kind and loving man who cherished his immediate and extended family and friends. Bill always greeted us with open arms and made us feel welcome and special. He will certainly be missed by us all.
Well, that’s about all folks. If you made it this far, congratulations! Brian and I wish you a Happy and Healthy New Year. If anyone happens to be visiting NY, please stop by. We now have a couple of extra bedrooms and love to host family and friends. We are only an hour train ride from the city and the Long Island beaches are gorgeous in the summer.
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| Aaron, Deb, Rebecca, Brian, Justin, and Amanda |
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| Amanda, Rebecca, and Buddy |
Debbie (and Brian)
