Focused at Fifty

I  stood chopping onions on Christmas Eve for John's and my annual holiday open house. A glass of red wine was close by to make sure the party preparations went faster. True to form, I soon starting tearing up from the onions. Wiping the 'onion' tears away, I smiled as I remembered as a child watching my mother chop onions while laughing and crying from them. She was getting ready for her annual holiday party as well. My family was in our small kitchen preparing for the open house that she and Dad hosted each year. We were all laughing and there was this festive energy in the air. Dad was getting the bar ready, making sure we had Piels beer, a couple jugs of Gallo wine, and just the basics: vodka, gin, and Dewar's Scotch. (A far cry from my bar with 30 plus bottles of various booze. LOL)  We kids were just watching our parents get ready, trying to stay out of the way. Soon enough, Adam and I would be ushered downstairs to the family room to be chaperoned by our big...

No resolutions. Just introspection. I do this on the Jewish New Year as well. You try and figure out where you've come from, how you got there, what the heck you are doing in life, and where you will be going. I don't believe in writing that resolution list anymore. I came across a list of resolutions from 10 years ago and could have wrote the same list today. Same projects I want to work on but haven't gotten around to. Same things I want to change about myself and am continuously striving for. So for me, it's a waste of paper.   Therefore, I do the introspection. The year 2012 was a mixed bag for me. I enjoyed being bar manager for the Lodge immensely. I even looked at restaurant/bar managing as an alternative career but rediscovered that as management (even as a volunteer), it comes down on you to cover stuff when the chips are down. I found myself spending more and more time obsessing over the most minutiae of details of the bar.   Giving it up was a re...

After deciphering Charlotte's rambling message, John and I decided to donate a bunch of Christmas ornaments for her to use on the school tree. I called her back one evening to let her know we would be bringing some over. "Hell-ooo??" Charlotte asked answering the phone in a sing songy voice. "Hey Charlotte, it's Marc from next door. How ya doin." "Why hello Marc from next door. I am fine."  There was an awkward pause .... "Uh well, I wanted to tell you that John and I are gonna bring you over some Christmas ornaments." "Well, I don't know why ... I haven't got a Christmas tree...." "Uh... you said you wanted some ornaments." "I don't think I did, because I  haven't got a tree this year, just my decorations out front. I put up the lights and the garland. I have a wreath for the side door and a wreath out front and ...." "Charlotte!" I interupted laughing. "Not f...

I was in a large department store when I overheard this conversation. To my right, was a young Asian man of about 18 or 20 who was speaking into his cell phone in an Asian language I did not recognize or even try to guess.  I was busy looking at shirts when I heard the conversation begin. I quickly ducked behind the ties so I could listen in. A thirty something father with his young son looked at the young Asian man and said, "Konichiwa."  Now I don't profess to know any Asian language but I do know that this is a Japanese greeting. The young Asian man halted his phone conversation, turned to the father and responded in English, "I'm South Korean." The American man replied, "So? What's the difference?"   YES HE ACTUALLY SAID THAT. The young Asian dude politely and calmly responded to him, "Well, you said 'Konichiwa' which is Japanese. I am South Korean and am speaking Korean." "Oh ... I dunno the dif...

 When I was a child, I used to hate peas. My Mom always served them for dinner and I just couldn’t stand them. I would hide them under the chicken bones, under mashed potatoes, under noodles, or even in my napkin. It was a very dramatic event, trying to get Marc to eat his peas. Mom and Dad would tell me that I couldn’t leave the dinner table until I ate them. I would hold out and once even sat there for an hour after dinner until Mom finally gave in and let me go. There the peas sat on my plate, cold and mushy. I think it had to do with the peas being canned. They may have been hot when served, but still ended up being mushy. Mom bought the canned peas because they were readily available and more importantly, cheap! Once we could afford the splurge of fresh frozen peas, with their fresh “snap” when you ate them, the tide began to turn for those peas. Now they still weren’t my favorite, but they were now palatable. There are a lot of foods I disliked as a kid but began to ...

One Christmas, many years ago back in the late 70’s, my grandparents from Colorado came to visit us for a week over the holiday break. I was about 9 at the time. It was Christmas morning and we had all opened our gifts, had breakfast, and were just relaxing in the living room going through our new toys and presents. My brother Adam, a year older, had gone upstairs for about 30 minutes and came down dressed as Santa Claus wearing his red bathroom stuffed with newspaper for a belly. He has fashioned a white beard out of cotton balls and was walking around to everyone saying “Merry Christmas!!!” It was really cute and he did such a good job until I started getting antsy. Feeling left out of the limelight (imagine that), I got up from my seat on the couch and much to everyone’s dismay, tore off his cotton beard while yelling dramatically, “YOU’RE NOT SANTA! YOU’RE AN IMPOSTER!” and effectively ruined his holiday show. Santa Adam, started crying and ran up to his room screaming, “You’ve ...

By now, most of you know of my beloved neighbor Charlotte, a feisty 70 something woman with a small side of daffiness which adds to her wonderful personality. She is extremely active in her church and volunteers at the local school. She called John and I the other week asking for holiday ornaments to decorate the tree in her school.  Below is the 'word for word' message that she left on our answering machine. We were touched by her sincerity with a bit of chuckling from the rambling nature of it. I think we have all been there though, rambling on someone's voice-mail until you are unceremoniously cut off! Try and follow it now! Charlotte leaving her message: "Marc. Hi John. No need to worry, it's Charlotte, your neighbor ... next door. We're doing a multiple Christmas celebration on Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, whatever it is for whatever we celebrate the birth of and whatever the celebration is for the holiday season. Do you have anything we can us...