JULY 2, 2025 – (Cont.) On Friday evening, as we entered the last weekend of our extended vacation, we hosted our good friends and next door neighbors, Steve and Lin and their daughter Syd. Byron’s family joined us as well, of course, given how closely they’re connected to these exceptional people.
Our not-quite-two grandson is on such close terms with the trio next door that when he and his mother arrived at Lyme Light, his little feet carried him straight across the yards to Steve and Lin’s backdoor, where he pulled on the handle to try to let himself in.
Steve, Lin, and Syd have been in love with him since the day he was born. On each visit to Connecticut since then, I’ve delighted in their interactions with the little guy, who, in my highly biased opinion, is as cute, cheerful, and charming as any two-year-old can be. With a quick smile and ready laugh, he rewards all the attention. Fast learning winning social skills, the curly toddler entertained us all to the point of steady laughter with his repeated, “Chee!” for “Cheers!” as he lifted his water cup to toast each of us individually.
The little one’s antic was symbolic of the camaraderie that his extended family felt toward their guests, and the lively responsive “Cheers!” on the part of the guests reflected their affinity for our whole family.
Though our friends/neighbors see and socialize lots with Byron’s family throughout the year, Steve, Lin and Syd have also grown very fond of Illiana, and she of them—and their cats—as the result of our annual June trips East.
Throughout our precious time together on the veranda against the magnificent backdrop of the cove, we engaged in the full range of conversation that typifies our get-togethers over food and drink. Though Byron’s family had to exit in time for the Li’l Charmer’s bedtime, the rest of us maintained the conversational momentum nearly to midnight. As people talked, they reflected my view of life as an open-ended Netflix series replete with a wide spectrum of intense drama and exceptional hilarity. However close we’d long felt toward Steve, Lin and Syd and they toward us, our gathering around the veranda conversation table Friday evening made us ever closer.
I took close mental notes of every story, but in the comedy category, Jenny told an especially memorable tale. She told how one December a special needs friend of her special needs daughter had ordered a large package of cheese and sausage intended as a Christmas present for Jenny. As the result of some mix up, however, the “gift” was sent erroneously to Maia at the latter’s group residence. Since it was outside her dietary boundaries, she didn’t consume it, but she didn’t give or throw it away, either. She simply stuffed it into a dresser drawer and forgot about it.
In time, however, the packaging was compromised, which led to the cheese and sausage being exposed. After a short while the products became veritable megalopolis of odiferous bacteria. In time, the overpowering stench filled the Maia’s apartment. During a routine visit, Maia’s supervisor picked up on the smell but erroneously attributed it to Maia’s person.
A long shower with loads of soap didn’t seem to resolve the unpleasant aroma, so the supervisor insisted on scrubbing down areas of the apartment from which the awful smell seemed to emanate. Eventually, the investigation uncovered the source, which was then promptly discarded.
The public knows Jenny’s husband as the Great American Humorist, but truth be told, Jenny is the funny one of her family (taking after our niece Erica, the stand-up, who takes after her late dad, Dean). I marvel at how wonderfully Jenny relates to Maia and Maia’s special needs social network. Invariably respectful of these people with their many challenges, Jenny is also blessed with an usual sense of humor about life and what it throws at us. Her easy and genuine rapport with these amazing people is a testament to Jenny’s caring patience.
Ditto Steve—in retirement, head of the local EMS; Lin—a trusted advisor to many long-standing clients; Sydney—a dedicated law clerk (with an LLM from Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona) and JD candidate at UConn School of Law) at an immigration law firm in Hartford. I admire these three for the same reasons I admire my younger sister, led consistently by a sense of humor and most important, by their empathy and understanding of people who face challenges that reveal the superficiality of my own.
When together we realized how late the hour was, we began a(n interminable) “Minnesota good-bye.” In the morning, Steve and Lin would head for the Berkshires, first to Tanglewood to hear John Baptiste and on Sunday, to hang out in Lenox and environs before returning to the cove. Beth, Illiana and I didn’t know if we’d get to see our friends/neighbors again before we left for Minnesota. Accordingly, we spent the next half hour saying good-bye and expressing our mutual enjoyment of the occasion and most important, appreciation for our deeply rooted friendship.
Life is good in the company of good friends. This I wanted Illiana to see and know. (Cont.)
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© 2025 by Eric Nilsson
