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I am in L.A.! I have been here since Saturday, and I would have updated this page to reflect this recent travel, but I was caught by surprise on Friday night and spent my previously allotted page-updating time otherwise. (Since I did the allotting, I guess that is okay.)

I love L.A.; I don't care that people tell me I shouldn't. The year that I lived in Venice Beach contained perhaps more amazing moments than any other; maybe wistfulness over those memories is what kept me away this time for two and a half years.

It was not the fond memories, nor the unbelievably beautiful weather that compelled me to come down this time. It was not even my oldest friend, Colette, for whom I am always grateful.

Rather, it was my almost-89-year-old Grandmother Charlotte, who is, as I mention often, my favorite person in the world, who flew from Milwaukee to Los Angeles by herself to attend a family reunion, where I joined her last night, surrounded smiling by her oldest son, his wife and mother-in-law (whom she knew even before the two of them met), her first cousin Bernie, whose father and her father were brothers, six of her eight grandchildren (and her grandchild-adopt Colette), three of her four grandchildren-by-marriage, and most adorably, all four of her great-grandchildren, who tore about the Arcadia house with energy that reflected undeniable nature-or-nurture influence. She is right now at school with 5-year-old Jessica, who chose to bring her as part of her "VIP day show-and-tell project."

Which gives me pang that I myself still haven't made a tribute to Charlotte (Adland) Eisenberg, despite my grandiose hopes of books and films I would create to tell her story. I cannot do it until I am good enough; she deserves more skill than I have now. Not that I need more self-imposed pressure to improve, but it sure couldn't hurt.

But for now it's fair to say that even the shortest bits of time that I spend with her both inspire me and calm me, reassure me and relax me, engage me and encourage me, and most of all remind me how lucky I am. Lord knows that I need to remember that more often.

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thanks, Top25.org

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