Mi vida encantada

"my enchanted life"

Letter to my Family (Upon the diagnosis of ALS)

Dear family, where do I begin. I did not expect to leave you like this or so soon, but you know that. Initially I thought going fast like Michael [a family friend] is preferable but there is no good time or way to go.  I am accepting that as difficult as it is on all of us, this slow process hopefully allows us time to say goodbye.  

I have better days and worse days and from what I understand, my worst days today might be better than what's to come. Not a comforting thought but gives perspective to try enjoying bad days. 

Early life: 

This may sound very odd, as I have been living with ALS for the past year and a half.

I have reflected on this choice for a number of nights as I lay awake for hours in the middle of the night. The reason is that when I consider my life without the filter of self pity and anger at the unfairness of it all, I must acknowledge that I have had a pretty good life. 

It has been and still is an ongoing seesaw between anger and gratitude. 

Let me tell you a little about myself. I was born in 1947, a year after my parents got married. My dad was honorably discharged from the US army. In mid 1945, after Japan surrendered, he spent the war years as a US army soldier serving in the pacific theater. 

Why do I mention this? It is because during most of my early years, one of the things that sticks out in my memory is how angry my father could get. Today it is recognized as PTSD. Then it was that he was angry, although it never manifested in physical violence. 

I don't want to leave you thinking that was my biggest memory of my father. To some degree my thinking recently is that my life began at twenty. That's because I have few memories of that time. For the first few years all I have are a few shards of unconnected memories. A common denominator is a connection to a traumatic or exciting event. My earliest memory is seeing my pet goldfish floating upside-down in its bowl. The next is when I was three and was told that my mother was in the hospital giving birth to my sister. 

Around that time, my parents bought their first home in Toronto. It was a white three story with an enclosed front porch. It was very narrow: to make ends meet, the dining room became my parents bedroom. My sister and I shared a bedroom on the second floor. The house entered into a hallway that stretched straight back to the kitchen. On the right, there was a staircase to the second floor. To the left, the living room, the dining room, and kitchen all in a row. The rest of the second floor was rented to a mother and her young children, a boy and a girl. The boy was close to my age and only spoke Hebrew. We spent a lot of time together, and it resulted in my almost fluent Hebrew at a young age. The third floor consisted of one room which was occupied by my father's cousin, named efrayim, or froyim in Yiddish. I called him cousie. He was about my dad's age. I was just a few years old. The house was on Borden, just south of Bloor street, which is a major east west street in Toronto. 

Another memory shared is with my mother, watching the procession of the newly crowned queen of England, Elizabeth the second.   

I should note that the second floor also had a kitchenette. Despite the close proximity, we never invited the renters to eat. The memory shards were like photos and some like short video clips. Two clips involved my school. One is my first day of kindergarten: the memory is me crying. I discovered that no one understood me and I didn't understand anyone. Turns out that I was speaking Yiddish at home for the first five years of my life. (And when asking my mother why she didn't teach me English, she said, "eh, I knew he'd learn it eventually."). The only person who spoke Yiddish at the school was dr yacober, the principal, who acted as my translator that day. However, I remember nothing else of that year. 

The next clip was walking to school with my mother. Walking past my uncle's house I asked why my cousin wasn't joining us. When I was told she had the mumps and explained that it was a swelling of the throat glands. I felt my throat was also sore, and told my mother, I think I have that, to which she got angry and said it was all in my head. Next morning it was clear. I don't remember anything else about those early school years.

I have a few other shards of unconnected memories. One of those is from my frequent visits to the Royal Ontario Museum. I am walking downstairs into the museum basement to the Egyptian collection where I usually go to visit the artifacts and the mummies, they are thousands of years old. I remember feeling that I was holding a rope tied to the artifacts and stretching all the way back through thousands of years ago to the time of Pharroh and the Israelite slavery and exodus.

There are two other memories that come to mind. The first one is sitting in synagogue with my father on Shabbat, my father sat next to the aisle on the wooden pew while I sat on his left. Another memory is accompanying my parents to the grocery store on Sunday. The store was a few blocks from our house and in a residential area. The area was predominantly Jewish, the owner was also Jewish and the store was closed on Shabbat. Back then, Toronto had blue laws which required businesses to close on Sunday. To serve the community, the store opened for a few hours on Sunday. The front door was locked. Access was through the back and the lights were off. It was very exciting. The next is when I was sent to the kosher bakery and given eighteen cents to buy a large rye bread. I remember clutching the money and feeling so proud. 

At the end of the third grade, the school moved north reflecting the north migration of the Jewish community in Toronto. The migration was centered around Bathurst st. The school relocated to Bathurst south of wilson. I took the streetcar and the bus every day until a couple of years later, when we also moved north to a small one-story house at 1 barclay st.

The school was a hebrew day school. Half the day consists of english and half hebrew. My section was the accelerated section. We started learning french in the third grade and skipped the seventh grade. I entered the ninth grade at thirteen, following my bar mitzvah. 

The move to LA

In early 1960, my bubie passed away. My bar mitzvah was in the year of mourning, so there was no music and no dancing. In addition, remember the blue laws? They also prohibited serving alcohol on sundays. So, zaidie and I poured whiskey into hip flasks and on sunday, handed one to each adult male. 

Several weeks after the bar mitzvah, my parents put our house up for sale, and after the high holidays, we packed up the pontiac, shipped the furniture, and drove west. The date was october 20, 1960. We spent shabbat in chicago. Sunday morning, we took route 66, joining the thousands from the northeast, heading for sunny california. We arrived in Flagstaff, Arizona on Thursday night and Los Angeles on Friday afternoon and settled into a hotel on fairfax. Within a couple of days, we moved to an apartment on curson, near oakwood, and I was enrolled in school. 

About my father

I want to share some observations of bubie, zaidie, and the berger family. Zaidie was hard-working, honest, trusting, and generous. (Trusting to a fault). He worked long hours, making sure we had a roof over our heads, and food on the table. He regarded that as his major responsibility. Zaidie also kept his word and was a straightforward person. Before he wed, he promised to be religious and keep his word. He was also generous and charitable. People would approach asking for money for various causes and community projects, and he would always give: any appeal received a check, even though we could have used the money. He promised my bubie (his mother in law) that he would be observant of Judaism, and kept his word until the end. 

He was also disciplined. He taught himself english, and then years later, to read the prayers in hebrew. He was a voracious reader. His favorite books were human behavior (including self help, health, and psychology), adventures, and western novels. Once he bought the health food store, he read and learned as much as possible about vitamins. 

About my mother

My mother, your bubie, was a very smart woman with a lot of common sense. She was a bit controlling and very disciplined. She was loved and respected by everyone and was a peacemaker. She was a good business woman and great at saving money. No matter how little they made that week, she was always calm and measured, and reasonable. She was not dramatic, did not yell or curse. Just as with her mother, my bubie, brindle, and her grandmother bubie raizel, people came to her for advice. 

After opening the health food store, people also came to her for health and healthy advice as well. When in later years, my knee hurt with shooting pain and the doctors were not helping, and my friend’s suggestions were also not fruitful, bubie said she would look into it. 

Two days later, she recommended grape seed extract and the pain stopped. She and zaidie never stopped learning, they also amassed a health food and vitamin and herb library. 

What else about my mother? To stretch the food budget, she always used the leftovers and ate potatoes and chicken feet, which I loved, but were less expensive. Until the last few years and sunday lunch, we never ate out in restaurants. In addition, there was never any money coming my way from bubie for such frivolous expenditures, such as going out like my friends got from their parents. All that money went to savings.

The other major influence of my life was the extended family. Bubie had a large family in toronto. I was conscious that we were the poorest. Uncle Kalman was assumed to be wealthy. He owned real estate in canada and israel, and stayed at the king david hotel. We knew uncle Shiya and Moche were wealthy because they were real estate developers and owned property. It was obvious that ownership of real estate became wealthy. None of the family flaunted their money, and except for shiya’s house, no one would guess that any family was much richer than the other. At least not back then. Another thing that should be mentioned is that none of my uncles except for one, teased. I saw how hurtful that was. To me, it was verbal bullying. 

As much as these years passed with so few shards of real memories, they had a profound influence on me. Dad taught me by his example to be honest, hard working, give generously to charity and trust in god. And also to become a good reader. From my mother- to save, to be good with money, common sense and a head for business. And not to swear. From my position in the family, I was determined to own real estate, and since I was not getting a trust fund, like some of my cousins, I was going to create a trust fund for myself. 

I didn't like being poor. 

First year in LA and highschool

The first year in los angeles, I attended rabbi wasserman yeshiva, located at the time in north hollywood. I was picked up by the school bus at 7am and returned home around 6pm. I enjoyed the school but not the hours. I lobbied my parents and at the end of the school year, they agreed to let me attend Fairfax high school. In september 1961, at the age of fourteen, I started 10th grade. That summer, we moved to a four-unit building at 415 spaulding avenue. Although I could walk to school, and get out early, I didn't like school. I was one of the youngest and smallest in school and felt like an alien. Every sunday, I felt like a wildebeest standing on the bank of a river filled with crocodiles. The objective for both of us was to get across our respective challenges without incident. 

In high school, I made few friends. Most of my friends were other religious boys in the neighborhood such as jack jacob, joel rosenfeld, peter lorber, and harry zelig. We were going to be doctors. Specifically neurologists, since they did not have to deal with blood or other bodily fluids. I lost contact with them after my junior year, but heard that they became doctors. I sometimes wondered what my life would have been like if I had also become a doctor, but never regretted my career choice (lawyer). Joel’s parents were friends of my parents and his father operated an antique jewelry store in Beverly hills. Jack Jacob was born in india. His father was from calcutta, which had a jewish community for generations. His mother was from burma. Both parents were religious, the communities had been there for so many years that they looked indian. The mother was heavily smoked but stopped on shabbat: during the day she was fine, but as shabbat was ending, she got the shakes in anticipation of smoking. 

 Harry is the reason right security was installed in courthouses, after harry shot and killed his ex wife in the courthouse during a bitter divorce. Harry is serving life in prison. 

My grades were a little better than 3.0. That was what was needed for admission to ucla. I kept a log, for every a I could get a c. This changed in the 12th grade when I took advanced placement art history and european history. I loved classes for the first time at fairfax, and got an a+ in each as well as getting a 5 out of 5 in the ap exams. The other notable action was dropping calculus in favor of a typing class which was to have unintended consequences later.

College at Ucla: 

In the summer of 1964, my parents bought the duplex on 4th st. Dad wanted a single house, but my mom held firm. That was to be a critical decision that would allow a degree of financial freedom. That fall I started ucla. It was glorious to have the freedom that was provided, which was so different from high school. All that freedom didn’t help. At the end of the freshman year, my grades were b’s and c’s. I was determined to get my grades up. At the beginning of my sophomore year, I dropped physics because vector analysis required calculus. And I dropped it… the unintended consequence was that I dropped any thoughts about medical school.

My sophomore year was a difficult time. I had to learn how to study. I stayed up late, studied hard and started drinking coffee. I was also taking non-science classes. By the end of the year, my grades were a’s and b’s. By the end of my junior year, I was getting all a’s and made the dean’s list. In june, 1967, I was preparing for finals. Several weeks prior, Abdel Gammal Nasser, the president of Egypt closed the gulf of aqaba to israeli shipping and vowed to destroy the fledgling state. Israel had to call up its reserves, effectively closing down the economy. This continued for weeks and the situation became desperate. In june __ 1967, after appeals to the un failed to reopen the waterway, israel took action. Early that morning, the israeli air force struck. In a matter of hours, they destroyed the edgyption and syrian air forces. I was blissfully unaware as I had been studying all day. The next days were surreal, trying to study while glued to the news. 

After finals, I went to the ucla office for junior year abroad. The program was booked months in advance to Israel, but several students dropped out, and I was accepted in days. I told my parents that I was going to Israel next year. My parents borrowed money from my uncles and I flew to Toronto to pick up the checks and to Montreal for the world fair. From montreal to new york and israel. It was july 1967 a few days after my 20th birthday. 

Thinking about my life the past few months is like nothing I have done before. Much of it has been in the middle of the night as I lay awake. It seems like my life is divided into several major parts. The first major part, like the first stage of a rocket, drops back down when its job is done, lasting 20 years. Now the second phase of my life was going to begin. Those years molded my character to a significant degree. In addition to my parents and family, I believe that a major influence was being raised in a religious jewish home. Two of those influences were a focus on education and especially the rigor and style of studying the talmud. The other is keeping kosher and observing time and manner rules as observing the sabbath. These rules circumscribed what I could do and when, and instilled discipline that would serve me my whole life.

Israel 

When I arrived in israel, I found the country in a state of euphoria and optimism. Euphoria over the tremendous military victory. In six days the idf, israel defense force, had defeated two of the largest armies in the middle east the egyption army and syrian army, as well as the well trained jordianian army. Israel armour and infantry destroyed the edyption army, cutting across the sinai peninsula to the suez canal, and were on their way to cairo. In the north, the israili army captured the golan heights and destroyed the syrian army. In the center, the bitter hand to hand fighting, the west bank, was captured and for the first time in 2000 years, jerusalem and the temple mount, where a jewish temple had stood for 2000 years, was in the hands of an independent jewish nation. The optimism was a hope that peace could be a possibility. Palestinians from the west bank could visit israel and israelis could visit the west bank. Business was flowing in both directions.

The first person I met getting off the flight to Israel was David Kass, from New york. We spent that summer in Kiryat Hayovel studying at an ulpan. In the fall, we both decided not to move into a dorm on the hewbrew university campus at givat ram, opting instead for a small dorm off aza street in the rechavia section of jerusalem. This dorm had no cafeteria but was centrally located and I could walk to the center of town. A 30 minute bus ride brought me to campus. I enrolled in regular courses, with hebrew lectures and textbooks in english. I also took a class to learn arabic. I lived on falafel and chocolate and lost 30 pounds. Kalman visited and invited me for dinner at the king david hotel. It was the best meal all year. Shiya and Esther visited. Shiya was in cancer remission and was determined to visit israel. His cancer returned and my favorite uncle died in early 1968. 

One of the most interesting and exciting things in Israel was the diversity of the population, including the jewish people. There were jews from all over. Israeli jew whole families lived in Israel for hundreds of years or more, and those whose families escaped the pogroms in Russia built the political, economic, and social institutions as well as the ideological framework of the country. And also the physical buildings. Then came the stream in the 20s and 30s from Europe with jews smart or lucky enough to get out of europe, much like sadie did. Next came survivors of concentration camps. Aster the israeli war of independence, many jewish communities were expelled from north africa, especially the large community in morocco where they had lived for over 500 years. And from Iraq and Syria where they lived for more than 2500 years. These were sephardic jews who make up half of the jewish population. Later came the airlift that brought the entire jewish population from yemen, and later a steady stream of olim from europe, north and south america. The other unexpected experience was how it felt about the ground. I felt a deep connection as if there were root tendrils emanating from the soles of my feet into the ground. Especially in the Judean hills and desert and around jerusalem. 

The year was exciting but difficult. I was not used to looking after myself. That and the lack of money and family might have contributed to a sense of depression. There were good moments but more lonely ones. And I never regretted the year. I grew up as would not have been possible living at home. That summer I spent touring Greece, Italy, Switzerland, France, and England with David while chasing my visa. 

I never gave any thought about how my mother must have felt that year. My letters were few and far between. For weeks at a time she would have no idea if I was alive. My concern was the cost of air mail. I never bothered to see things from her perspective. (She sent me a letter saying, ‘ I just want to know if you are alive’)

That year I connected with elchanan friedman and his brother mordechai levenstein whose older brother was bubie’s boyfriend in poland. They and kalman searched in vain for him after the war. Chanan lived in north tel aviv and mordechai in givatayim. I visited each, they did not get along. They survived the way by being in the kinder transport that brought several thousand jewish children to england, leaving the rest of their family to perish in the holocaust. The other unintended consequence of that year was that I kept the student deferment for an additional year. 

At the end of august 1968 I returned home from israel with mixed feelings. I still remember seeing the lights of la below going on forever and the reality that my year of freedom was over.  I had to complete the last year at ucla to earn my degree. I also needed to decide what to do the following year after graduation and the loss of my student deferment which would make me eligible for drafting and vietnam.  One unacceptable possibility was moving back to canada which I was not prepared to do.  I was also not about to go to vietnam.

I applied to ucla law and got accepted.  Along with the acceptance came a scholarship for the first year of law. I was in the class of 72.

Law school:

In the fall of 1969  I started law  school.  Class of 72. It was difficult and boring. I was at home on 4th  st.  Most days my classes started at 8 am and ended at 4 or 5 pm. I drove home, ate dinner and went to yeshiva by 7. This was how I avoided the draft. 

My two closest friends were Fred Goldstein and Jim pflaster. Sonia’s dad.  None of us were great students.  I started to get involved in anti war activities on campus taking part in demonstrations and sit ins.  The second year law was better.  The lottery was instituted and my high number made it safe for me to drop out of yeshiva.  I also moved out of my parents home into a small house with roommates. Bubie was bereft that I would move out without being married or at least having graduated with a job. In early 1971 I moved in with some jewish friends.Who were planning to spend the following year in israel. I decided that I wanted to spend time back in israel and worked with several faculty for an internship in jerusalem and ended up working for the attorney general office setting up three legal aid clinics. At the end of the six months I wrote the dean that I would be returning on September 72 to finish school.  From january 72 through the summer I worked various jobs from a car dealership in arab east jerusalem in early january to taking student groups around, one in the winter and one in the summer for the jewish agency. Between the two groups I stayed at kibbutz maanit with robert or by then reuven azoff. At the end of the summer I reluctantly returned to la to finish law school. That summer I took the three day bar exam and my pass in november. It was time to get a job. 

My first job as a lawyer was with an entertainment firm on Canon Drive in Beverly hills. It was an easy commute from west la and the 60 -^70 hours per week was less of a problem but rather that the work was boring.  I applied to the city attorney office in july 1974. It was a great decision. 

Early years as a lawyer

For the first six years I was a criminal prosecutor.

The  previous summer I bought a used 1968 mgb from jim pflaster 's mechanic. Those two years my salary was $15,000  a year, and saving most of it. In 1976 I bought my first house in hollyridge. I borrowed additional money from my parents and money left over. In 1977 I bought a house in reseda. In 1978 I took a second mortgage on hollyridge and bought a fourplex in santa monica. In early 1980 I was working in the van nuys city hall so I bought a little house in van nuys but transferred downtown just as escrow closed and remained in santa monica.  The following year I bought a house in westminster in mar vista and moved in. At the end of 1983 I bought the building on westholme.

In the space of eight years I bought six properties. 

I was always a good saver and investor and it paid off. However I did manage to have fun. When my beloved red mgb convertible started to fall apart in 1981 I found a fiat sedan and a year later an alfa romeo convertible spyder sports car of course. 

I also visited Europe and Israel a couple of times. Another necessary expense was therapy which I knew I needed. Over the years after passing the bar I saw a number of shrinks as well as enrolling in courses from est and lifespring, I dated, went skiing and joined the brandeis bardin institute where I would meet your mother.

I tried to balance saving and enjoying life. I had also been investing in stocks for years usually chasing hot tips, with mixed results. But my passion was for real estate. However, the passion was for buying and not for managing.  

Meanwhile, at the office, I was working in Colin's division doing low-income housing, federal block grant funds and housing revenue bonds for the city. I also handled civil litigation arising from these projects in state and federal court. Colin had just completed the new wholesale flower market on wall street and assigned me to represent the city on the new wholesale produce market where cornucopia is now held.  

Meeting my wife

Thirty-seven years ago in february 1984, I met your mother on a weekend at brandeis in the simi valley. She was like a breath of fresh air. By August we were engaged. She was the best thing that ever happened to me. 

This concludes what I have recently thought of as phase 2  of my life. Like stage 1 and 2  boosters making a rocket out of earth gravity in a powerful thrust lasting for a short while, the first phases of my life shaped me and set me on my course. Now comes phase 3, the longest and the most productive part of my life and the most enjoyable. Like stage 3  of a rocket, it lasts the longest and can go on for years, taking the craft to its destinations. It is the most rewarding part of the journey and it has proven to be that. 

The summer we got engaged, la hosted the 84  olympics. The next months were hectic but thank god for bubie heddy.  Cousin Walter decorated the beth el hall. Mom was radiant. Nothing like a december wedding in phoenix to bring out the family from snow regions.  It was a great wedding.   

In late january we took two back-to-back cruises from puerto rico and ended up buying  baccarat crystal glasses. Zaire Arthur gave us money as a down payment for a house and instead bought a six unit property on manning. Mom at 24  years old not only managed the building but became the house mother for a bunch of students. She also managed the other properties. 

In addition to the bank loan we also had a huge second mortgage at  10%  interest. 

We lived in the top front unit. It was fun but we wanted a house before having kids. Mom got pregnant and every weekend we looked. 

During the first half of the 80s interest rates were very high. As they decreased property prices soared.  In short order we were priced out of beverly hills and westwood and ended up buying south of pico.  

Buying our first home and having kids:

1987 was a hectic year. But it was fun. We bought our house on putney ., Traveled to europe for three weeks while mom was pregnant and of course benjamin, there was another development, this time at work when I was appointed as general counsel to hacla the housing authority of the city of los angeles, that owned and operated almost 10´000  low income housing units and the section 8  program administration as well as operating its own police department. I was in that position for 17  years, until april 2004. 

The next year was all about Benjamin who did not believe in sleep. Mom spent the year not sleeping and even I spent a couple of hours walking around trying to get Benjamin to fall asleep while I ambled around the living room. By ten months we had a new problem as Benjamin started walking around, climbing out of his crib and using a chair to climb on the dining room table.  He also didn't believe in going to sleep before eleven o'clock at night when mom and I were exhausted. He also had no interest in sitting still.  

In 1989  Julia was born. She was calm and even as a young child was aware of her surroundings.

About that time I became the advisor to the city council on redevelopment matters. In april 1991  I was appointed as general counsel to the community redevelopment agency as well. It was the only time both positions had been held by the same person. I held this position for 13 years. 

After a bout of chickenpox mom got pregnant. It was time for another house. 

In the early 90s the la economy was hammered by the closure of aerospace firms, and the Rodney King riots that drove down real estate  prices which made the comstock house affordable. Rachel was born a few months later. 

In early 1994  the Northridge earthquake drove prices down even more. It also destroyed the house in reseda. We used the insurance  proceeds to buy Massachusetts for a great price. Not long after we bought greenfield and in 1998  we bought maple, just before prices started to rise. 

The next few years were a bit stressful as we juggled mortgage payments, school costs and investing. 

Mom meanwhile, in addition to raising the three of you and managing a growing number of rental units, became a licensed real estate agent. She was selling real estate and managing other properties as well. She was also writing two columns for the la times, one on different neighborhoods in and around los angeles and the other one about landlord tenant legal issues. These activities were in addition to serving as your pta president for three years. 

You might notice an emphasis on work and real estate but it's how my mind works. This for me was my central role to insure our family had financial stability, having enough to live well, travel, save and invest and worry about money at least not for the essentials. 

I didn't throw balls with you or go roller skating, I lacked the patience to help with your homework, or other activities one sees on tv Instead I made apple sharks, pancakes with chocolate chips every morning, playing monopoly and scrabble, and drove you to school playing mila del dia from which you learned the word pkak. 

I don't regret not playing ball but I do regret not spending more time with you and specifically not teaching you investing and Torah from my perspective. 

In 2004  I was transferred from hacla and the cra and was assigned to be an attorney for el  pueblo and animal services. It was a big step down for me, I was also not a division head anymore. However my rank and   pay remained the same.

The transfer had unintended benefits.  I became friends with the general managers who I knew and helped them fix problems with the departments. I had less stress and less work and best of all the kids understood that  their dad was the lawyer for the annuals,  not long afterwards I was also appointed as the  lawyer for the los angeles zoo. I was to hold these  positions until I retired in january 2020, 

Money was still tight between  the mortgage payments, school tuition and of course investing. We still took vacations to Hawaii, the caribbean and alaska. In  2005  we bought the silver lexus, 

It was not until after the  2008  recession that money became a bit easier. Tuition costs were behind us, rents were going up, interest rates were coming down and mo!M and I had been making extra payments on the mortgages and mom was doing a great job managing.  All our work was paying off. 

One of the results was that we were able to start paying off the mortgages. The other unintended result was an increase in travel.

Julia started it when she spent a summer working in italy. Before leaving she invited me to travel with her when her job was done. This also gave me time to plan an itinerary and study italian. It opened the floodgates, it was so much fun and a great way to get to experience each of the kids.  

travel:

Over the following years I lived a fantasy of travel.  I visited Italy a few times, as well as France and spain.  A family in Florence took a speedboat up  the grand canal in venice into our hotel and then across the lagoon to the airport. There is no better way to get to an airport. 

With Rachel we visited Germany, Hungary, Austria and Prague  and on another trip Brazil, Argentina and chile.  Our last separate trip was to ireland. I went to India with julia ' it is a magical country. We also traveled to peru visiting machu picchu and climbing yaiku picchu. The high point was spending time on lake titicaca. On the trip to South america with rachel, in addition to visiting  rio de janeiro and buenos aires we visited bariloche and  iguazu falls, places I had only dreamed about visiting. I also traveled to thailand with ben and vietnam with julia and two trips to china, visiting beijing shanghai hangzhou suzhou chengdu china hong kong macao and xian for the terracotta soldiers.  In Croatia, Julia and I visited plitvice national park, a wonderful place to visit. 

Between travels with the kids mom and I traveled to Istanbul and three trips to israel. In addition we indulged in another dream of mine which mom loved as well, ,as it allows us to visit many locations without having to pack and unpack. We took two mediterranean cruises, a european cruise and a  baltic cruise. We also squeezed in a couple of short cruises down the coast to ensenada and a visit to new orleans and another cruise. 

In addition to traveling with family members I went on two safaris with mayer, a dear friend of ours. The first safari was to east africa, starting in nairobi and among other places we visited goro goro crater  which is as close as I imagine what the garden of eden would have looked like.  The second safari was to southern africa. In addition to the incredible animals I was able to visit victoria falls, catch tiger fish on the zambezi river in namibia, high tea in turn of the century elegant colonial hotels, and riding to the top of tabletop mountain in capetown and seeing where the atlantic and pacific oceans meet. 

I also traveled locally to seattle, san francisco and big sur as well as seeing the giant redwoods and not quite as giant elephant seals. In addition, julia and I would drive up the coast to malibu almost every sunday, just as mom and I had done years before. 

Travel abroad

My favorite destinations however, were abroad. 

There were places on my wish list that I had hoped to visit, and places that I thought I would never get to visit. Then there were totally unexpected and remarkable places and experiences that I was fortunate to have come into my life. 

In the late  70 's I visited the great pyramids of giza and entered the burial chamber of the pharaoh, I also drove up the nile river to edfu and on a later trip, drove down the coast of the sinai peninsula and slept overnight at a beduin wedding. 

In the mid 1980s, mom and I traveled to Europe three years in a row, visiting beautiful chateaux in the loire river valley and weeks along the french riviera from our base in antibes. 

But it wasn't until a few years ago that the fantastic travel began, starting with my trip to Italy with julia. In the  last few years I have had the good fortune to eat great pizza with mom in luxembourg and naples and with ben in carcassonne, visit rio de janeiro, buenos aires, and iguazu falls, eat jerusalem artichokes with julia and with ben in the jewish ghetto in rome, and indulge in many gelatos in italy. With mom I visited Istanbul where your zaidie spent time on his way to israel, bargaining for turkish rugs and visiting the souk, the beautiful blue mosque and the magnificent 1500 year old hagia sophia. With Ben I sailed to Lake Como, and visited lugano switzerland. With Rachel I crossed the andes passing cone shaped volcanoes and eating a memorable lunch in a castle in vinho del mar, Chile overlooking the pacific ocean. With Julia I visited the Taj Mahal and witnessed cremations next to the Ganges river in india. 

There were just some of the wonders that I got to experience. This would not have been nearly as rewarding and as much fun without each of you. 

I am so thankful to each of you for traveling with me and sharing these adventures with me. Most of all I am grateful to mom for unselfishly and generously allowing and encouraging me to travel with each of you. 

I am also thankful for the city vacation policies and to god for everything that brought me to this point. Todo a dios. My only regret is not visiting Morocco and not being able to visit japan with julia as promised  or vacationing in tahiti and bora  bora with mom.