Atlantic City

May 17, 2007

Last night Carol and Mila and I went down to Atlantic City to receive an award for the Coalition. It was a real adventure getting down there--an hour to go ten miles because of a downed wire on the Garden State Parkway, and then through the recently reopened section of the Parkway where the sky was still full of yellow smoke and your eyes smarted, and you could see the backfires still burning from the big forest fire in the Pine Barrens, started by National Guard flares dropped from a plane. Very spooky, smoke, blackened grass.

I enjoyed the ride down and the dinner, but especially the ride back, late, Mila driving, Carol riding shotgun, me napping in the back seat with their voices going on, two hours of a golden nostalgic glow in the dark for me, Carol’s familiar deep chuckle, Mila’s lighter voice. Telling stories, talking about how to help kids who need scholarships. I felt relaxed and safe as I used to on the ten hour drives to my grandmother's while my dad and mother talked endlessly in the front seat.