9/19/10
Stan monologue on the car ride home just a few minutes ago:
Dad puts his cane in the car upside down and I say to him as he struggles into the passenger seat, here’s your cane, you put it in the car upside down, why did you do that?
“what can I tell you, you do what you can, it’s like Tommy Powers said, “Do the best you can, as soon as I get another man, I’ll shoot him right in there.”
“I thought you said that.”
“No that was Tommy Powers, he had 5 boys, he worked at the track, he was a cashier, back then they had sellers and cashiers, he was a $2 cashier, they had them on the mainline, cashiers and sellers, he said, “go to the seller” Have I ever told you that story, I must have. Back then you were either a cashier or a seller, and these guys would go to the wrong lines, they would try to buy a ticket at the cashier, they were Puerto Ricans, or Hispanics and this guy came up to Tommy and kept trying to buy a $2 bet on a horse and he was getting frustrated. Tommy kept telling him he had to go to a seller. They guy didn’t understand, but he finally walked away and then he stopped turned back and looked at Tommy and said, “I’m just as good as you and I’m staying up here with everybody else!”
“Then there was Johnny Devaney, a big Irishman, he’s gone now. He was a $10 cashier, He had this guy who kept cashing in these $10 bets, a bunch of them on almost every race. He told a friend of his, follow that guy and buy what he buys. 15 minutes later his friend comes back with $10 worth of hot dogs.
“There was this other guy who was a $10 seller in the clubhouse. One day he gave me a few horses to bet on. I wasn’t working that day. I was at the track with grandpa B and Uncle Jack and Aunt Rose Eshay. He gave me a bunch of winners one of them was a 40-1 shot, we made out that day. Your grandpa liked to go to the horses, so did Mr K. One day we were at the track on the escalator and Mr. K saw this $20 bill on the escalator and he was going for it. I yelled at him, I get halves.
“I need to be careful about what I say about Germans. “
“We were talking about Germans?”
“Yes, you mentioned some German girls.”
“That’s right, I did, but I’m not prejudiced of Germans so I don’t even realize it. I didn’t grow up in World War II.”
“Yes, but I did, I experienced a lot of anti-semitism, there was a lot of anti-semitism when I grew up, they killed 6 million of us, but we’re still around, what a nice congregation you have in Bozeman, what a friendly group of people. I like the rabbi, he was a bit long, but I liked him, the music has been playing in my head all day today, the guitar, the cello, all of it. “
So that was my car ride home, just now Sunday night, the end of Micah’s 14th birthday.
Services ended around 6:40 pm last night and Stan, Howie and I broke the fast with the rest of the congregation at the temple, as Jackie sped off to get pictures of Andrew and Sawyer and their homecoming dates and as it turns out we know the parents of Sawyer’s date. So while Jackie got the photos and visited with the girls’ parents, Howie played in the yard at the synagogue and Stan and I ate with some new friends at temple. Dad truly enjoyed himself. The Yizkor service earlier in the evening (from 5 – 6pm) was very touching, the rabbi created a sacred moment for me as I journeyed in my mind and saw my mother again and we spoke and all she said to me was “Oh, Mawkie, Oh Mawkie.”
Dad was very solemn during the service and I know he was thinking of Mom all day, and especially at Yizkor, which is the memorial service held in the evening of Yom Kippur. And especially since it was this day, Yom Kippur, when Mom died 11 years ago. It was the only service the entire weekend in which he tried to read the prayers from the pamphlet, he just isn’t physically able to see the words, but he tried, he kept rubbing his fingers over mom’s name which is listed in the congregations book of rememberance. He kept asking me and I kept showing it to him. Immediately after Yizkor the service continues with Neilah, the concluding service for the Day of Atonement and then since it was also the end of Shabbat we all went into the back yard of the temple and had a havdalah service, lighting the havdalah candle, smelling the spices, the wine prayer and the bread prayer, finally eating after 24 hours.
After the service we sat with a man who recently lost his wife only a few months ago. We broke the fast together and we introduced ourselves to each other and I think it was very meaningful to Dad, he is very empathetic to people who have lost a spouse or any loved one.
Jackie came back from taking pictures of Andrew and his friends and we drove home to Big Sky where Micah was already home with his soccer friends who were ready to start celebrating his birthday. They had spent the day playing 2 soccer games in Helena, losing the first and winning the second.
Sunday, today, Jackie took Micah and his 3 friends to go Zip Lining at Big Sky through the trees and and then Yeti dogs – the best hot dog place in the universe – and then swimming. At the same time I took Howie to Bozeman where I watched him in the beautiful hot sun play 3 one hour soccer games in a row. He played goalie in the first game which his team won 6 -5, then he played left wing in the second game in which he scored 2 goals and had 1 assist and his team won 5-2, and then in the third game he played goalie and left wing and his team lost 5-0. On the way home he was starving and thirsty. 3 bites and 2 sips of his drink and he was fast asleep for the ride home.
And then it was Micah’s birthday dinner. For his birthday Jackie and I bought Micah a Presto Cool Daddy Deep Fryer and we made falafel, hummus, salad, pita and steak and we had a terrific meal. The deep fryer worked great and we will probably have more and more falafel meals and who knows what other deep fried goodies will appear on our dinner table.
Margy and Jim came over for dessert and it was great to see them as they had just arrived back in Big Sky today – I had not seen them since Micah and I left for Israel – so at least 5 weeks ago… and it is always great to see them and share good times. Micah opening up all his other presents, what a year his 13th year was, what will his 14th year be?
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