Back from NJ

We had a quick but jammed-full trip back east last weekend.

After taking a flight at the crack of dawn (4 AM wake up for 6 AM departure!), my sister picked us up at the Philadelphia airport. We spent some time with her, had a snack, and then went to the rehab center to visit with my father. He has lost quite a bit of weight, and of course is bald from the chemotherapy, but his color was good and he was more than willing to go out for dinner to a Chinese restaurant nearby.

We stayed every night at my parents’ home, and Rik kindly offered to do all the driving so that my mom could have a break. I think that was the night of the national spelling bee, which was televised for the first time on a network. There were 4 words of Hebrew or Yiddish etymology!

On Friday Rik and I met my sister at her synagogue, where she has just been elected president of the congregation. It was Shavu’ot, and the temple had 52 teenagers in the confirmation class. The service allowed each kid to have a speaking part, so it was a bit more complicated than usual. Of course there was a lovely luncheon afterwards, complete with bagels and white fish salad and cheesecake.

Then we went to the rehab center and visited with my dad. (Do you detect a pattern to our visit?) We were able to observe his physical therapy session and talk with the therapist about Dad’s progress. Then back to Susan’s house for dinner and off to see my niece in her tap dance recital. Of course we had to sit through 20 other groups of kids before getting to see Dana, because her class was last.

On Saturday we spent the early part of the day at rehab, then brought my dad to my sister’s house for my nephew’s high school graduation party. My cousins came down from north Jersey and we had a family reunion, even managed to take a photo together with everyone.

Saturday night Susan had her tap dance recital (like mother, like daughter!) but the rest of us stayed home to finish cleaning up after the party.

Sunday was again a visit with my dad at rehab, delicious brunch my sister and brother-in-law brought in, including black and white cookies, a real New York treat! By the time we got on the airplane to come home, Rik and I were both pooped. And he had to get up the next morning to teach.