When a brother treks in from London for his sister’s birthday…

It’s worth a can of chocolate sardines.  Les, my writing teacher Linda’s older brother, gets the “Long Distance” award for his baby sister’s birthday.  He trekked in from London to be here, and his wife Judy hauled in from New York.  Our little ‘wine & cheese’ party for Linda took off from its humble beginnings.  My friend Darlene and I found a Ganesh cake — which looked suspiciously like Babar the Elephant to we who were uninformed.  Linda loves Bali and anything that reminds her of it.  We had a ‘word cake’ made — with names of her children, grandchildren, snippets from scripts and books she’s written.  We staged a songfest, had hot & cold running hors d’oeuvres.  When Les sent word that he could be there, it took the party to a new level — which is why I wanted to acknowledge his thoughtfulness.  Before he left, I showed Les the art we have that his mother Greta painted,  and the sketches done by Tibor Gergely, her long-time friend.  It was a thrill for me to show him some of his mother’s work featured on our walls.  Les was jet-lagged and weary, yet he played through the night.

We should all have such a wonderful big brother.