Cohen family yearly recap, 2024

From Debbie (and editing and comments from Brian): Dear Family and Friends,

Happy New Year! We hope you all had an amazing 2024. Time just keeps moving along nicely for the Cohen family. Many adventures and exciting events are on their way for 2025.

In February, Brian turned the big 6-0. We celebrated with a big disco-themed party at the house, complete with a DJ. Brian loves disco and dancing, so it was a fantastic evening (and classic rock as well, as well as Motown, so let’s not leave that out…).

On a somber note, two of Brian’s friends passed away this year, Ray and Marcelo, as well as his cousin Adam (they were all far too young to go, and they are missed).  

Brian and I enjoyed traveling (as always) this year. We started with a lovely trip to the east coast of Florida to visit friends. We also went to Cleveland for the solar eclipse, as they were in the “path of totality” which was amazing (experiencing “totality”, as opposed to even 99%, is a huge difference)! 

(Also, while there, we took advantage of going to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the home where the movie A Christmas Story was filmed, we took in the home opener of the Cleveland Guardians, and I took a side trip to the Pro Football Hall of Fame while Deb went exploring a park, museum, and gardens). 

As summer arrived, Amanda graduated with her associates degree from Suffolk Community College. We are so proud of her for balancing work and school and achieving this milestone. She did it!

Later, we embarked on a family trip to Ireland. Justin (Amanda’s boyfriend) and Aaron (Rebecca’s boyfriend) joined us. We started in Dublin and toured all over the country, from Galway to Cork. 

We were fortunate to stay with our friends, the Hoare family in the middle of our trip, in their beautiful home in Ballycotton, and my mom joined us there. The people, countryside, and seaside were lovely.

While in Ballycotton, Brian and I contracted Covid. During this time, we also received exciting news: Justin had proposed to Amanda in Dublin! They didn’t make it to Ballycotton, but they FaceTimed us to share the news (as we were literally still holding our positive Covid test strips). We’re thrilled for them and look forward to their wedding on September 12, 2025, here on Long Island.

Brian and our dear friend Marty surprised both Marty’s wife Debbie, and me with a trip to Block Island to celebrate our wedding anniversaries. We were married on the same day, one year apart. It was a wonderful way to mark our 31st and their 30th anniversaries, and we had a great time (as always)!

In September, it was back to school for me. This is my final school year, as I’m retiring in June 2025 after 30 years as a speech pathologist. It’s bittersweet because I love my career, but I’m excited to focus on hiking, sailing, gardening, going to the gym, and traveling (yes, I’m excited as well, as we will not be limited to going away solely during school breaks).

We had a pleasant time when my first cousin Donna visited for a week from Cincinnati. It was great to catch up on the Noll side of the family. Her dad, Wesley, and my mom are siblings. 

Others have come over to visit as well, including our niece Samantha who was on Long Island at a place called Jefferson’s Ferry to do a clinical rotation towards her becoming a Physical Therapist. Sami enjoyed her time there, and thought the place was great. 

In October, Brian’s brother Ben married his girlfriend Madison. Brian thought it would be special to celebrate on what would have been Grandma Sue’s 80th birthday. With just a week to plan, we hosted a backyard wedding on October 20th with 20 guests. It was a beautiful day, and Ben and Madison make a lovely couple. Aaron officiated the ceremony and did a fantastic job.

Some recent news: My mom has decided to move to Jefferson’s Ferry, a Continuing Care Retirement Community (yes, the same place we just mentioned that Samantha did her clinical a few months ago). Her condo is in contract, and the closing is scheduled for mid-January. She’s been on the waiting list for a year to get in. My sisters and I are helping her pack and prepare for this next chapter. She’ll continue working two days a week at the library and staying active with her book groups (book groups is plural, as I believe she is in 4 of them), bridge, and mahjong clubs. She’s an amazing woman and a tough act to follow!

Brian is still enjoying working at his firm doing financial planning and remains quite active playing backgammon with his “backgammon buddies”. He is also the master trip/vacation planner, as well as making sure we have things set and arranged for Amanda’s wedding (flowers, wedding and bridesmaid dresses, and the shower though, I’m happy to steer clear of dealing with any of that).  

We still are involved with “the Fellowship” (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Huntington). If it’s an “outside” type of thing, odds are I’m involved, such as taking care of the memorial garden, helping to run the plant sale, and being one of the “Pumpkin Queens” raising money by selling pumpkins the month of October at our “patch”. (As for myself, and I am still involved with the Finance and Investment committees, chair of the Nominating Committee, and helping to get what we are calling the “Legacy Circle” for donating, established). 

Now for the kids:

• Amanda and Justin are still in Stony Brook, working hard.

• Rebecca and Aaron moved to their own apartment in Farmingdale this past February and are doing well.

• Buddy, our 14-year-old dog, isn’t hearing well, but he still runs up and down the stairs and loves to steal our slippers.

Sending love and warm hugs to you all,

Debbie (and Brian)

Thirty years and still going strong!

Day 1 (August 14), we get to Vancouver to start our adventure

We got up at 3:20AM Monday morning, as we had a 7:30AM flight out of LaGuardia. We had gotten back been home less than 36 hours prior, as we were in Delaware for the week for a "Gray family vacation". Almost everyone was able to be there, except for Brian D. and Sami.

Our flights were fine (had a very brief layover in Chicago), and we spent the afternoon walking around downtown Vancouver, and the section called Gastown.

Oh, and earlier in the afternoon, we were watching a commercial being shot, and the director called over to us, and asked if we would like to be in it!!! Deb answered "Really, are you sure?", to which he replied "Yes, if you want." Deb's reply: "Do you want both of us??", and he replied (luckily, without hesitation): "Sure!" Now, I did mention to Deb I noticed that she seemed to think it was just her that he wanted for it, and she did not dispute it...