Tonight I got my holiday present



Me as Marie Antoinette, in honor of the showcase we may do.



Tonight I drove down, way down, to White Pine, New Jersey.  Pete Berlin, my financial advisor (goodness, just typing that makes me feel like a zillionaire; would that it were so!) was throwing a celebration party* for his clients, and I had rizvipped that I would go.

Not that when the time came, I was unequivocally enthusiastic.  Far from it.  I had received an invitation to join friends of mine at a free concert a two block walk from my house, and then to go for a late-night breakfast at PJ's Pancake house, where we would share an order of buckwheat pancakes (be still my heart!).  Giving that up wasn't easy, but I had said I was going, and by golly, I was going.



The traffic on Route 1 was hellacious.  For half an hour, I made a turtle look like Speedy Gonzalez.  I breathed deeply, listened to Beethoven and Bach, and told myself whenever I got there, it would be fine.  Then my GPS system displayed its puckish sense of humor and took me around and around until it finally had mercy on my despairing soul and deposited me at the fancy schmance Trump Golf Country Club.



When I entered, my advisor, Pete Berlin, and his wife were there and greeted me warmly.  We chatted for a while, others chiming in, and then I saw an old ballroom dance acquaintance of mine.  I sat with him and his mother, another ballroom dance pal, and we had a wonderful, energizing, totally copacetic time.  I basically forgot to eat - I begrudged the time it would take me to go get the food from the buffet.  (And believe me, my advisor pulled out all the stops.  The food was terrific and gourmet in the best sense of the word.  I wish I had some now for a midnight snack!)



We made plans for the three of us to do a dance showcase together involving Marie Antoinette era costumes, complete with powdered wigs and minuets, and to have dinner together sometimes before rehearsals.  I felt, at the risk of sounding really sentimental, that the universe had given me a great gift; a gift of friendship, with people who are creative and excited about working on new projects as well as being thoughtful about life, with its ups and downs, its delights and despairs.



What a reward for doing the right thing and driving down to this dinner!



And by the way, because I don't want to slight his impact on my enjoyment of the evening, Pete Berlin was an incredibly thoughtful host.  I spilled my diet soda at one point due to an importune gesture, and when I found my way over to the bar to get another, he was already there getting a replacement for me!  Now that's thoughtful.



As I drove home, I felt so filled with gratitude and also energy - the energy that comes from spending time with kindred spirits.

I have gotten a wonderful gift for the holidays this year; there could scarcely be a better.  Thank you.



*He was celebrating moving to Ameriprise near Marlton, NJ from another firm whose ethical standards were quite a disappointment.  Pete Berlin, in addition to being a really good financial advisor who thinks about each client's particular needs in depth and anticipates things that may come up in the future and suggests plans for them, is a truly ethical, decent human being.  I respect him enormously.