We Are Family
((With apologies to Sister Sledge)
We are family
I got all my sisters, sister-in-laws, brothers, brother-in-law,
sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, grand-nieces,
aunts, uncles, and cousins with me
We are family
Get up everybody and sing
Everyone can see we're together
As we walk on by
(FLY!) and we fly just like birds of a feather
We won't tell no lie
(ALL!) all of the people around us they say
Can they be that close
Just let me state for the record
We're giving love in a family dose…
Dear Carol and Bobby,
You both are about to complete your first 60 years of life and, as such, it is a time of reflection for all of us. Upon embarking on this task, we realized that I have known Carol all of her 60 years, that Marty has known her for 47 of those 60 years and that we have both known Bobby for 42 out of 60 years. That’s a lot of history and memories…
• The 40’s – Carol arrives, red haired # 2 daughter; sharing a room; moving from the South side (Parkway Drive apartment) to the North side (Dellwood Drive house); crying, eating and playing (activities that continued for the next 59 years); attending Cousin Sadie Sacks’ Pre-school; visits to Grandparents – Cohen and Hillman; field trips to the zoo and Piedmont Park (see picture)
• The 50’s – living N.W. when every one else lived N.E.; E. Rivers Elementary School; sharing stuff; brother Mark appears; swimming at the Progressive Club, the Mayfair Club; car trips; motion sickness; “chepping” brother Mark; AJECOMCE Day Camp and Camp Blue Star (for only 1 month – our parents loved us and did not want us to be gone too long); Bar/Bat Mitzvah circuit (different friends, same routine); BBG Meetings and BBYO Conventions (Marshall Karo); borrowing and losing my clothes; Lake House at Lanier; skiing; sun hats and long sleeves; banjos and campfires; Marty entered
• The 60’s - Northside High School (lunch at the “Jewish” table); Judy leaves for college; Georgia Tech fraternity parties; Sweetheart; Lake Lanier; George Fox; working at Head Start; eating the entire summer; University of Michigan; pledging AEPhi; meeting Bobby; deactivating from AEPhi; parting hair in the middle; Lake House; boat and water skiing; writing songs during storms, sleeping separately; graduation trip to Europe (“Cohen, Lazarus and Lifchez”) and Israel (without air conditioning, “it’s bad for your health”); wedding at the A.A. Synagogue; rehearsal dinner skits; University of Boston and Harvard Law School; Women’s Lib
• The 70’s – Masters from BU; teach school; Bobby graduates; Mark lives with you and waits tables; fleeting plan to move to Canada; trip to Hendersonville, NC to visit where you went to camp; change of plans – move to NC; set up law practice; water shortage for 6 months; chop wood for fire; birthing of Robin in a Seventh Day Adventist hospital; pot luck dinners; trips to Atlanta and Detroit; move into newly renovated house in Hendersonville; Andy appears, all 9 lbs. 9 oz of him – via natural childbirth (crazy); birthday and anniversary skits
• The 80’s – Life in the Hendersonville rental house; move to Asheville; kids enter school; Sunday School Director; Donna; Bar Mitzvahs (Michael, Ross); more skits; swimming on Wesley Parkway; surgery and recovering; family trips; Camp Kogon; skits; PCA’s; Customer Service Detective is born; Canyon Ranch scholar-in-residence; road trips to Atlanta
• The 90’s – Robin’s Bat Mitzvah; walks around the bird sanctuary; Andy’s Bar Mitzvah; Family Mission to Israel; more family trips; more skits; “SIH”; Canyon Ranch; Donna; New Year’s Eve at Dunkin Donut; movies galore; Seders in the garage; email; Mayo Clinic with Mother and Daddy; College – University of Maryland, University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan (3x), University of Vermont;
• The 2000’s – College graduations; children off the payroll; Grand Opening of Carol’s Spa; filming for Shalom Ya’ll and Moses (Bobby); weddings (Michael, Robin and Ross); next generation is started; Donna; more PCA’s; Canyon Ranch lamb chops; gray hair/less hair; arthritis; sore muscles; taking notes at appointments; reading glasses; “Welcome to Our Seder” commissioned by Carol and Bobby to commemorate the 10 Year Anniversary of Seder s in the garage; skits; internet; blogs
Thank you for sharing your life, friendship and memories with us. It has truly been a wonderful journey that we have traveled together for the past 60 years, and will continue to travel, as we enter the next decade(s). In The Life of Reason George Santayana said that “the family is one of nature’s masterpieces”; and Desmond Tutu stated, “You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them”. What a wonderful, masterful gift we share.
With much love,
Judy and Marty
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