No matter where I go I am a Lawrence.

  I swear sometimes my life is like a Independent movie. The kind that seems so meaningless on the surface, and even more so after much contemplation. Then after a restless sleep, you realize it was just a character study in relationships. What a waste of time. Or was it?
   I watched the saddest damn movie the other day, it was called Wendy and Lucy. Michelle Williams was a drifter with a dog. I am still sad about that movie and nothing else. I want my two hours back, maybe by now it's more like five hours.

   Back to the story. We left Vermont and drove three hours to my birthplace of Lake Placid, NY. It seemed like a rundown shell of it's former Olympic self. My brother and his wife live there. Their son and his two kids were visiting.  I have never met two shyer kids.
    My brother has recently become ill with some undiagnosed condition. Worrisome. My sister-in law is very sweet  and they were generous enough to feed and entertain us. My childhood best friend was going to meet up with us, but atlas, her son had a out-of-town baseball championship game. I was really looking forward to that rendezvous. I guess I was disappointed about that. Maybe that's why I drank a bottle of wine.

   Anyway the next day we headed to my sister Pam's in Syracuse.
   After a terrific steak dinner, we ended up playing Trivial Pursuit, drank some wine but not too much, and had a fun time. If nothing else we sure can laugh. I think a diaper was in order that night too. My kids were intrigued by Pam, mostly because she is highly intellectual and secondly because she's a little nutty.

Pam and her granddaughter Maddy. She was shared a bed with Maggie and me.

   Sometime in the middle of the night, my sister Mary's knee had swollen. She may have twisted it and then let it idle for hours driving. The pain was excruciating, and as a registered nurse, she was concerned she had a blood clot in her leg. After an five hour emergency room visit, they figured it was arthritis in her hip. Meanwhile Mags, Pam and I took her granddaughter Maddy to her mom's house. When we all returned to Pam's her husband had gotten us kosher delicatessen goods for lunch. My sister Pam made a sandwich with raw deli bacon, it looked like sliced ham. Yuck, imagine biting into bread and fat. Anyway I sound so depressing I am going to stop now. Damn sad Independent movie about a down-on her luck girl and dog. I will be more up-beat tomorrow. And I won't be part of a character study, promise.