MY LIFE IN PHOTOS - FAMILY 1
A family holiday dinner at my parent’s house in West Bloomfield, Michigan. We had these meals for many occasions. They were beyond joyful. That is Josh and Blanche on the left. Many of my aunts and cousins fill the space.
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This meal includes both my mom’s and dad’s side of the family. I am at the far end. My mom is just walking into the room. My aunts Pearl and Clara are on the right side of the photo.
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More relatives. In a certain sense these images are “me.”
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My mom on the left. Her older sister Esther in the middle. Pearl, her baby sister is on the right. In some ways they were like a single person. My cousin Stuart joked that my dad married all three of them.
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My mom and dad in their later years.
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A family gathering outside my parent’s house. I am on the left. Blanche is pregnant with Ari beside me. Next are Pearl, Clara, Esther, Grandpa Dave, Suzy (Gary’s wife) my mom and Josh. On the ground is my brother Gary and his two little ones, Shoshana and Jay.
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Me, my sister Marci and my brother Gary.
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My dad, me and Grandpa Dave at my parent’s home.
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My sister Marci and her surgeon husband Alan. They have five children and many grandchildren—an extraordinary family. They live in Atlanta.
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My brother Gary and his wife Suzy. They have two kids and four grandchildren. They live in LA near where we used to live. We were constant visitors in one another’s homes.
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A family photo with nearly all the cousins. My mom and dad are in the back row amazed at all their offspring.
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The grandchildren, labeled, for the sake of my dad who, in later years, had trouble remembering all their names.
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Almost my entire LA family gathered at our house for a farewell celebration shortly before we sold the house and departed for Red Hook. We had been there 35 years.
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A rather formal photo of my family when we were all much younger. I have no idea when or where this was taken.
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A photo of my mom’s sister Esther and her family. It is hard to express how close we all were. Cousins never felt like quite the right word.
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Me and my cousin Wendy shortly before she died. We had been like sister and brother since our childhood in Detroit. After her funeral I threw her ashes into the ocean. They blew back all over me. I carry her still.
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My cousin Stuart and his wife Margy visiting us for the opening of GHOST THE MUSICAL in NY.
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My cousin Mark Levin, Esther’s grandson, and his wife Jennifer, daughter Franny and son Finn. They are a filmmaking family who shared our lives in LA and now have a home in NYC as well. We feel lucky to have them nearby.
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The Goldman family, all part of the amazing clan started by my sister Marci and her husband Alan. They nearly all live in Atlanta.
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The Roth family, all connected to my cousin Joanie, all part of the East coast crew. This is the Zingale crew in New Jersey.
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Some of Joanie’s family gathering in our backyard in Red Hook. Joanie is on the far right.
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The Krasnick Family, all descended from my cousin Marjorie (Joanie’s sister) middle row second from left next to her husband Billy. They are the only part of our clan still living in Detroit, all within blocks of one another. I often envy them their closeness.
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My cousin Joanie and her second husband Lenny.
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Joanie and her sister Marjorie together at Bear Hollow.
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Me, Blanche’s sister Rhoda and Blanche in Manassas, Virginia where she spent the last years of her life near her son Howard and his wife Brandi.
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Rhoda.
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Howard (Rhoda’s son), his wife Brandi and their daughter Rachel.
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Howard and his son Jeremy.
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While not exactly family this is David and Tracy, lifelong friends from Detroit with their parents Alan and Susan. Alan and I went to elementary school together. Susan and I were desk mates in high school.
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Early on Blanche and I began a tradition of taking family photos each Christmas. This was taken at our DeKalb home. Ari was six months old. Josh was eight.
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This photo duplicates the previous DeKalb photo 30 or so years later—only Ari is no longer in Blanche’s lap, Josh has a beard, I have very little hair and Blanche has a lot.
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Christmas a year later. How time flies.
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Our second Christmas in Northridge.
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Northridge the year before.
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Northridge, ten years later with our dog Mesa.
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