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EVERYTHING BUT BRANDY 27 June 2005 It was twenty-five years ago, or thereabouts, when Mt. St. Helens erupted for the first time. In July of that year, we took a trip up to Portland to see the ash-covered streets and get a feel for what it was like. It's a trip I've regretted taking for twenty five years. Oh it was a fun trip. Eduardo, our first Brasilian student, was here at the time and it would be a wonderful thing to tell the folks back in Rio de Janeiro when he got home. Problem was, it was also the same weekend that our friend Richard's family was throwing a surprise 50th birthday party for him. It was promised to be a riotous party. You may have seen this photo of Richard and David before. I always called it the "father and son" photo. We'd always teased Richard about having his own built-in Groucho glasses.
That photo was taken, in fact, shortly after the weekend that we went to Portland and everybody else went to the party. The thing that was unique about the party was that when Richard walked in, everybody was wearing nose and glasses, including Richard's 85 year old somewhat enfeebled mother. There was apparently much hilarity about that, but then later on in the party, "Brandy" arrived, wearing nose and glasses--and nothing else. There are wonderful photos from that night which I wish I had. A lovely family portrait of Richard, his wife, their son and naked Brandy--all of them wearing noses and glasses (except Richard, of course). We had given Eduardo the choice of going to a party with a stripper or seeing Mt. St. Helens, but, as he lived in Rio de Janeiro, where nudity is nothing extraordinary, he chose the volcano. For 25 years, I've been sorry that I missed the party. Saturday was an opportunity to get a taste of it. Richard's family threw a surprise 75th birthday party for him, and we all wore nose and glasses when he arrived.
Richard's mother is gone now and nobody thought to look for Brandy, so it was just a bunch of silly people standing around in silly nose and glasses waiting to recreate a moment from 25 years ago.
These guys grew up with our kids. They are all mothers now and their kids who were there also wore noses and glasses.
In fact there was a basket of funny glasses that the little kids passed out to the guests before Richard arrived. (Jeri, Ned and Tom, please note the clam dip at the lower left.) Richard was duly surprised, since he expected to be going to brunch with his son and daughter-in-law.
It was a very low key party, but a lot of fun, seeing people I hadn't seen in many years, seeing how people I remembered as children now were adults with children of their own, and even running into Matt and his wife and daughter Amelia. I knew Matt's mother, not from this group, but from La Leche League and from The Lamplighters. When Paul did The Music Man in Oakland, he lived with Matt's family through the rehearsal and performance period, so he and Matt had become good buddies. But I had forgotten that Matt also went through school with Richard's son and that they also were good friends.
The party broke up around 3 p.m. because most of us are getting older in the first place and we don't do late night parties any more, and we had to rush home to meet Ashley. It was a fun afternoon and it was nice to be part of Richard's celebration. But I missed Brandy. |
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PHOTO OF THE DAY
Look who's back!!! Actually, when I looked at the old photos, |
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Created 6/23/05
