Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
AUGUST 24, 2023 – I remember well the day: Sunday, September 20, 1998. After a restless sleep as a guest at Jenny and Garrisons’s Upper West Side apartment, I decided it would serve me well to go to church, more for refuge than anything else. And if revelations, observations, conversations of the past week impelled …
AUGUST 23, 2023 – UB served as navigator to Route 17 leading north. We then fell silent, as UB opened up the day’s edition of The Times. After a few miles, though, I glanced over and noticed that his hands had sagged and the paper, still open, had crumpled onto itself. UB’s chin was on …
AUGUST 22, 2023 – At 6:30 that Friday and according to plan, I rode with Cliff to his house in Pompton Lakes for dinner and an overnight stay. It was an evening I will never forget, and an occasion on which I would gain further and surprising insight into this Holman tenant turned unlikely Holman …
AUGUST 21, 2023 – That afternoon, while UB putzed around amidst the collection of jumbled junk and trash that filled his headquarters area, I sat down at the desk in Headquarters Central to read and respond to my office email. As I waited for my laptop to fire up, I turned to the metal shelves …
AUGUST 20, 2023 – Blogger’s note: Ninety-nine years ago today was UB’s birthday. As soon as the Fox and the Wolf were gone, UB and I returned to the issue of getting the roof of the house restored. Now that the scammers and schemers had pretty much been discredited—in my mind, anyway—I suggested to UB …
AUGUST 19, 2023 – The following morning, I got off to a late start and reached “Holman Corner” considerably later than I had planned. UB, of course, had long been on hand. Barely had I arrived, when our friend Frank descended upon us—our sleazy, slimy friend, Frank—this time, with another guy in tow, but not …
AUGUST 18, 2023 – At 4:00, I left UB at headquarters and found my way back down to Cliff’s store. He issued a few directives to his staff, then suggested that we go out for a serious talk. Cliff drove us to a nearby establishment where we sat at an outside table and ordered iced …
AUGUST 17, 2023 – The meeting with Frank and Duane broke up at noon, and UB then drove me to his temporary apartment in East Rutherford. It was a wonderful place, really—brand new, thoroughly attractive abode, with everything tastefully designed. I thought UB should be very pleased with these circumstances while he waited for the …
AUGUST 16, 2023 – About three weeks later, I boarded Amtrak in St. Paul, bound for Penn Station in New York City. It was during my aerophobic phase. I had to fly a fair amount on my job, and for crying out loud, I’d had to fly many times during all the years I’d been …
AUGUST 15, 2023 – I don’t know exactly when “Uncle Bruce” became “UB,” but it was definitely after the verdict was in that he was out of his mind. I think it was probably a way for my sisters and me, and Cliff, for that matter, to separate the Uncle Bruce whom we had known …
AUGUST 14, 2023 – (Cont.) On the long train ride home, Cliff and I had ample time to continue the open-ended conversation that we had begun a week earlier. As the miles passed and Uncle Bruce was asleep in his compartment and Cory was snoozing in the upper bunk of ours, Cliff and I sat …
AUGUST 13, 2023 – (Cont.) Two days later, in fact, Uncle Bruce was well enough, confident enough, at least at the outset, to agree to Cliff’s idea for an “off-trail” adventure. I was amazed that Uncle Bruce would go for it as far as he did. At the Alpinglow, Cliff had seen a brochure touting …
AUGUST 12, 2023 – (Cont.) The next morning, after several ski runs with Cory and Uncle Bruce, the two of them stopped at the summit house for a break. Cliff and I kept skiing. On the first chairlift ride up together, Cliff asked drollfully, “Eric, how long has Uncle Bruce worn that toupee of his?” …
AUGUST 11, 2023 – (Cont.) It was one night over beers at the Bierstube just down from our ski lodge, however, when Cliff and I started talking in earnest about the dilapidated state of the real estate in which he had chosen to set down his business roots. “Eric, does your family know much about …
AUGUST 10, 2023 – (Cont.) He was the son of devout Catholics and had grown up in Teaneck, New Jersey, not far from Rutherford. Cliff’s father owned a florist shop, though I wouldn’t learn that part of the story for another decade—May of 2006, to be exact . . . . . . Cliff and …
AUGUST 9, 2023 – (Cont.) Late that evening, we boarded Amtrak’s western bound Empire Builder. I had reserved a private compartment for Uncle Bruce, and a family-size compartment for Cliff, Cory and me. After getting Uncle Bruce situated, I led Cliff and Cory to the larger quarters. It was quite late for an eight-and-a-half year …
AUGUST 8, 2023 – The trip had had its origins in February 1995. Gaga had died the previous November, and Mother and Uncle Bruce decided against having a funeral. We all knew that Uncle Bruce “didn’t do” funerals, and somewhat out of character with her Christian impulses, Mother herself saw no need for a funeral …
AUGUST 7, 2023 – It was March 1988. Beth, Cory and I were just passing through Rutherford on our way to Boston. Grandpa had died just a month before, and it was a good time to see how Gaga and Uncle Bruce were doing. Four years had passed since my previous visit to Rutherford. While …
AUGUST 6, 2023 – I don’t believe that it was always that way—Dad calling all the shots. Mother was no shrinking flower and took after Grandpa when it came to domestic tranquility. He never flinched when Gaga invoked “house rules,” but he always complied. Likewise, during my lifetime, anyway, Mother never cowered when Dad imposed …
AUGUST 5, 2023 – Of the four of them—Gaga, Grandpa Holman, UB and Mother—Gaga aged most gracefully, at least in the mental department[1]. Although she was the source of acerbic quips, she was always in control of her mind, which never veered toward the guardrails. Typical of her matter-of-factness was a side comment she uttered …
AUGUST 4, 2023 – (Cont.) Mother’s hospitalization in 2012 was the most disturbing of all her hospital stays. Arriving in full-blown psychosis, she hit bottom, then at first seemed to improve—despite the name change . . . or perhaps because of it. When we visited her the day after the initial “storm,” we found her …
AUGUST 3, 2023 – (Cont.) After the immediate crisis was under control, the psychiatrist confirmed Elsa’s textbook-based diagnosis of Mother’s malady. The patient was put on a regimen of lithium and within a few days she regained a semblance of equilibrium. The equilibrium of the rest of the family, however, remained upset. Each of us …
AUGUST 2, 2023 – The past couple of days with Mother had been hell, and I imagine that they had been hell for her as well. For the time being, I was back in my office, tending to my law work. Just then, the phone rang. It was Elsa. “Get this.” She cut right to …
AUGUST 1, 2023 – Thus far I’ve posted less than one-half of the written portion of my incomplete memoir, Inheritance. I pause here to qualify a few aspects of this figurative travelogue through a significant swath of my life. What I’ve published to date are mostly pleasant reminiscences viewed through the prism of my youth. The story …
JULY 31, 2023 – When you’re fifty, three years go fast. When you’re not even 10, three years are a big chunk of your life to that point. So it seemed for me in the summer of ’64, when Mother, Jenny and I took the train out to New Jersey for a long visit. My …