I feel like I've done nothing today but eat. That's life at a Jewish family gathering. First there was breakfast at the hotel (not part of the gathering, but worth mentioning). Then there was lunch. It was my mom (Claire)'s husband (Sid)'s 80th birthday, and she had invited his family (lots) and their friends (lots more) to a surprise luncheon party at a nearby hotel. Then there were hors d'oeuvres and snacks back at their place in the evening. So there was food.

There was also an entire family I had heard about for years but never met: kids, grandkids, siblings, nieces, nephews...and all of them think my mother is the best thing since latkes. Well, yeah, she is. And apparently she's been saying all kinds of nice things about me and Aaron, because all of these kids, grandkids, siblings, etc., were utterly thrilled to meet us. I mean, seriously, overwhelmingly happy. It was...pretty wonderful, really.

Socializing with a lot of new people is not necessarily my forte, so I was kind of trepidatious about all of this...for about the first five minutes. Then I was chatting happily away with everyone, and of course, eating. We met Sid's daughter Sibyll (the only family member I'd met before, but over 10 years ago) and her boyfriend Jeff at dinner last night, then today at lunch we met Sid's son Perry, his wife Lara, and their kids Samantha and Zachary (a very polite young man who asked me to say a few words to his grandpop for the commemorative video tape). Then, let's see, there was Sid's sister Ruth, her daughter Lynne and son-in-law Leon, and their twin daughters, Amy and Iris. Um, I think I've got all the family members...I was telling Mom she should have provided a family tree to refer to.

There were also some of Mom and Sid's friends from Shul, and one of Sid's former students from Glassboro, and my mom's college friends Mary and Bill, who were witnesses at Sid and Mom's wedding. Those are only the people I remember talking to--I missed a few in the general hubub. There will shortly be many, many pictures.

(I should note that I didn't blow my newfound healthy eating habits entirely--I swam 18 laps at the hotel pool. Since the pool is about 3/4 the size of the one at the Y at home, I figure that counts for about 14 "real" laps.)

(I realized a little while ago that the reason I'd been feeling a bit nervous about meeting everyone was that my idea of a large Jewish family came from Becki's. And, well. Suffice to say, Sid's family is a whole different kettle of fish of another color. Wow.)

Tomorrow we're going to the Purim festival at Shul with Mom and Sid. This will be my first actual experience of any kind of anything in a synagogue. Oh, and we're being picked up at 9:45 am, so I'd better quit posting and get some sleep.