The Value of Relationships

When I began this blog I promised not to preach nor have my own opinions too visible. I hear from those who read the blog that they are comfortable with what I have presented to date. I am pleased as well that readership is growing and that I am able to publish your thoughts too. So please feel free to send me things you want to share.

This has been an extraordinary week for appreciating relationships.

My wonderful nephew and niece, Michele and Robert Federici, showed us how to define parenting, love, caring, courage and personal strength. Deb Philips hosted and executed a funeral service for a close friend and once again showed how to express love to the world. I contacted Rob Berkley and asked him to support a scholarship I am sponsoring at his personal cost. He never even blinked and said yes.

Laura Federici continues to amaze and please us with her artistic skill with her wonderful performance in the Mozart opera, La Clemenza di Tito.

After the performance, a gang of us went to have food and drink to celebrate her success. I ordered hundreds of dollars of food and wine only to find that the restaurant did not accept a debit card. I leaned over to another of my life's mates, Joan Ginsburg, and asked, you have $200? She did not interrupt her conversation, merely reached into her wallet, took out the cash, handed it to me and continued to tell her story.

Two hours prior to Laura's performance, I attended a 50 year reunion of some 40 or so classmates and fraternity bothers. A man, Roger Elowitz, found all the people, organized the event, created a website to honor us and then hosted and emceed the evening. People came from all over the U.S. and guess what? No one had changed very much. Sure they appeared older but the spirit and charm of what had brought us together 50 years ago is still very evident: the value of relationships and love.

On Monday, Addie & Gary Tomei, Lawrence & Margaret Ryan-Paolella and I journeyed to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. We have known each other well over 50 years and wished to continue the momentum of the Saturday evening class reunion. The love, respect,good will and hysterical laughter at no one's expense evidenced as we traipsed through the gardens, ate our way through China Town in Brooklyn, coffeed and desserted in Bensonhurst's Italian section was incredible. Eight hours together in a Prius for the journey was not enough.

On Tuesday evening, Margaret & Lawrence arranged for Laura and I to accompany them to the 22nd season premier of Steven Blier's, "New York Festival of Voices". An important New York classical music scene that presents some of the best classical music singers in the world. Mr. Blier is related to Margaret so we also had the joy of meeting him after the performance. Get this, folks, Steven is mid forties, a power in the U.S. music scene, the impresario of the NY Festival of Voices, the piano accompanist for the ensemble as well as many of the world's leading singers, translator to and from English of many of the pieces presented and confined to a wheel chair. Muscular dystrophy ravishes his body but not his mind nor spirit. Talk about love, relationships, appreciation of people, I urge you to go to their website, pick a performance and spend an evening with him and the ensemble.

Some finals notes of love and caring this week. Daughter Yoanna called me cause I said I had a bit of a stomach thingie, wished to stay away from Laura this week so I would not contaminate her( La Clemenza performance this coming Saturday)and asked me to come stay with the Connecticut Federici clan for some care and feeding. "Every one here is sick so what's one more virus" is what she lovingly said.

Anna and Chris Wyant welcomed 7.5lb Lilly into the world. Jack Kreisberg turned 7! and Fred Henry celebrated his 72 birthday today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRED! A pretty good week, folks, if you are paying attention. I bet if you looked at your week you could find as many wonderful things as I have just taken you through. I know, stuff happens, but I(and so should you please), always remember the good things.