Our latest holiday birthday bash, after the jump ….
But first: Top Comments appears nightly, as a round-up of the best comments on Daily Kos. Surely ... you come across comments daily that are perceptive, apropos and .. well, perhaps even humorous. But they are more meaningful if they're well-known ... which is where you come in (especially in diaries/stories receiving little attention).----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Send your nominations to TopComments at gmail dot com by 9:30 PM Eastern Time nightly, or by our KosMail message board. Please indicate (a) why you liked the comment, and (b) your Dkos user name (to properly credit you) as well as a link to the comment itself.
In 1975 (as a nineteen year-old) I was hanging-out with some friends of ours at our house during the week in-between Christmas and New Year’s. It came out that three of those friends had birthdays during that week (I don’t think I knew about all three). And whether one is Christian or not: if you have a birthday that week, you are an afterthought. One said that he received “combination” presents — supposed to be for both occasions. The other two nodded in dismay, noting that the whole is less than the sum-of-the-parts. And it might have ended there.
But my father overheard this and — because his birthday was December 30th — he could relate. So he told my sister Marilyn “Get in the car” , drove her to the local pizzeria, and they brought it to us (sitting around the table) … with three candles stuck in it (fewer than in the accompanying photo).
The joy on their faces stayed with me …. and the next year of 1976 led me to plan an outing (to a more formal pizza restaurant) to ensure their birthdates were not overlooked. I think we got about fifteen attendees — friends that we tended to see quite often — but people enjoyed the gathering.
And then … the event continued. And continued. Sometimes the venue featured pizza, other times German food … and twice we held it at a restaurant (owned by one of my brother’s college chums) somewhere on Long Island, NY. In each case, the event featured myself welcoming everyone (just before dessert) with a tribute to the birthday boys, with some gag gift-giving.
A few years later, I relocated to New Hampshire and — while I still planned to visit during the holidays — this event might have gone by the wayside. But another of our old friends, Bob Castagna (whom we met at our local community college) volunteered to do the venue arranging, as long as I mailed out the flyers (in those pre-Internet days). And so the event continued.
Now, after forty years, I am not the only one no longer living in the area. But we still have the event for those still local … and for those who visit family over that time. Thus, the event has morphed from just-another gathering .. to an annual reunion. Even better: almost every year, someone who we have not seen in, say, twenty years shows-up.
My sister Margaret says (of my brother and myself), “Eddie and Pat have kept every friend they ever made”. Not true: sometimes we simply went in different directions and (in rare cases) had a falling-out. Yet she was onto something: we do cultivate our old friendships, and believe they enrich our lives … even if for some people, this event is the only time we see some of them each year.
It turns out that we are not the only folks in our area to do something like this. A newspaper article told of a group of thirteen teenagers (twelve of whom attended my high school) in the 1970’s who arranged a dinner — and have continued perhaps even longer than us. They call themselves the Spaghetti Dinner Girls— rejecting the substitution of “pasta” — and continue to meet without husbands, children, etc. all these years later (coming from across the country to do so).
The “Spaghetti Dinner Girls”(They did allow that the quality of the accompanying alcohol …. has gotten better).
A week ago Friday, we had our gathering #41 — and the photo below shows some of the people who lived on our block, back-in-the-day (with yours truly in the center foreground, along with my brother and two of my three sisters).
My sisters Jeannemarie & Margaret, on rightBetter still is this wide-angle shot of some of the twenty-five attendees (necessitating two tables, not all in this photo). Lots of laughter was to be had, we exchanged some small gifts, and some old stories (OK, a lotta old stories) were re-told, with some new information revealed about old crushes, dumb things we did in our youth. We still do dumb things, of course …. just in middle-age, now.
Some of the twenty-five attendees, this yearWhat the future holds: we don’t know. At some point, this event will need to draw to a close …. until then, I consider it watering the garden of friendship.
Let’s close with an appropriate song: You and Me Go Way Back dates from thirty years ago and features John Sebastian (Lovin’ Spoonful), Ronnie Spector (the Ronettes), Roger McGuinn (The Byrds) Richard Manuel (The Band), Felix Cavaliere (Young Rascals) and Al Anderson (NRBQ) on bass.
x YouTube Video~~~~~~~~~
That song ……. truly sums-up our old gang.
Now, on to Top Comments:
From Eyesbright:
In the diary by Hodges about the devastation brought by last month’s Election Day— this cogent comment by KaLo is spot on.From Canadian Reader:
In the front-page story about Scott Pruitt's nomination to head the EPA — terrific advice was given by TRPChicago to Democratic members grilling Trump's nominees— it applies to all the hearings, and all Democratic members and senators need to read and understand it.And from Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening ........
In the front-page story about the failing economy that Kansas is enduring at the hands of Gov. Sam Brownback — blue jersey mom recalls the description Bush-the-Elder ascribed to supply-side economics ... and Mopshell points out that the architects of Brownback’s plan do not see it as a failure.And lastly: yesterday's Top Mojo - mega-mojo to the intrepid mik ...... who rescued this feature from oblivion:
1) And we can always counter with this sad comment … by dmhlt 66 +252 2) One politician DID play it straight with Coal Co … by CwV +196 3) I just can’t understand people that go out of th … by Slamfu +179 4) I don’t know why I bother, but here’s Hillary’s … by Bush Bites +147 5) Hang in there! I have the feeling you are going … by Jackaroo +139 6) I have a feeling that Gracie has already done mo … by liberalprof +133 7) Yeah, bullshit. Don't defend them. I grew up in … by Black Max +129 8) The weird thing is that red states are the ones … by AuntieB +120 8) That’s what you get with people who think the pr … by puakev +120 10) I hope Obama prints out a fake Kenyan birth cert … by Jeff Y +114 11) Last December 2015, my husband went to the hospi … by miracle11 +111 12) Far too many people haven't had the good fortune … by smarty jones +110 13) Try to remember that millions of us are proud to … by wolfbane in AZ +102 14) Linda, we love you. … by Aji +96 15) Presidenting via Twitter. So classy and adult. G … by I love OCD +93 16) I was just told about her passing. That poor fam … by jaywillie +89 17) His supporters are praising Putin and saying tha … by Cocob +97 18) Can't believe nobody wants to give you a shoutou … by OrdinaryIowan +82 18) A beautiful, powerful, poignant tribute to your … by JoanMar +82 20) Very unfortunately, some Republicans don’t seem … by ThePhlebob +81 21) On the 21st of January, perhaps we should start … by ArcticStones +79 22) [embed] by kishik +78 23) Trump will prove to be horrible at bringing this … by exlrrp +81 24) Fox News would let Tiny Tim starve. by News Corpse +75 25) Trump has disinhibited all these folks. They can … by hummalong +74 25) Those sample cards you included are real eye-ope … by Apprenticegeezer +74 25) This is not just about Medicare. Price wants to … by Ga6thDem +74 28) There’s a Buddhist tale I heard once about a hol … by Cali Scribe +73 29) This move would be good for Dems. Its easy enoug … by derleider +72 29) Seriously, starting January 20 is time to boycot … by Karl Rover +72 29) Your story brought tears to my eyes. I'm so glad … by cat50 +72