TRIP REPORT
To: Ithaca, New York March 17 -- 25, 1999
Purpose: Attend Grandson's Bar Mitzvah
This trip was long planned and carefully arranged. With one exception, which I will describe later, everything went very smoothly and we had a great time.
The logistics of transporting me across the country are awesome. We took our attendant with us and this was a great help at the airports and in Ithaca.
We started very early on the morning of Wednesday, March 17, and were at SF0 by 5:15 a.m. with three large suitcases plus four carry ons, ready to check in for our 7:10 a.m. flight. We had to wait half an hour for the ticket counter to open.
Our flight to Pittsburgh and our connecting flight on to Ithaca went smoothly. Bruce met us with the elevator-equipped van which we had rented and which was delivered to him that morning. The day ended on a high note as we had dinner with Bruce, Claudia, Joel, Gabi and Ari.
The next morning we went to Bruce's house where he had constructed a ramp so I could get in. This was the first time I had seen the house which they had moved into just before my accident. I was suitably impressed; the house is large and spacious, very conveniently located so Bruce can walk to his office and the two younger kids are close to their school.
High point of the second day was delivery of Joel's bar mitzvah gift. Bruce had arranged for a Dell computer to be delivered to his office in advance. He brought it to the house on Thursday afternoon. When Joel saw it and realized it was for him his eyes sparkled and he floated across the room.
On Friday evening Claudia arranged dinner for all of the relatives who had arrived from out-of-town -- it was a big family reunion with seven Lewenstein's and Salgados from California, one Lewenstein from Minnesota and five members of the Sacks family (Joan Lewenstein) from Chicago. Plus Claudia's parents and her brother and his family from Pennsylvania and the Washington, D.C., area.
The bar mitzvah ceremony began Friday evening with Joel conducting the service just about completely in Hebrew at their rigidly conservative synagogue. Needless to say, he did an outstanding job, including the speech that he wrote to explain and elaborate on his Torah portion.
Joel continued his stellar role Saturday morning where he again conducted the service, entirely in Hebrew, in a very competent manner. There are many high points here. A poignant moment was where Marion and I were called up for an Aliiyah. For my benefit they had built a special Torah-reading stand on the floor so that I was able to wheel right up to it. Another memorable moment occurred when Joel and his two younger brothers were on the "Bimah" (altar) and Joel picked up Ari and held him in his arms so that Ari could see the congregation. It was really very special
The festive part of the bar mitzvah began after the Saturday morning service. First there was a lunch at the temple. That night there was a dinner/party at the hotel where everyone ate well and had a great time. Then, Sunday morning Claudia and Bruce hosted a brunch for 53 out-of-town guests to fuel them for their trips home.
Marion and I remained in Ithaca through Wednesday night so we had time to be impressed once again with the aplomb with which Claudia and Bruce juggled the demands of jobs, kids, parents and guests.
Our trip home on Thursday saw the one hitch to our carefully made plans. When I made our reservations USAir had assigned to us bulkhead seats from Pittsburgh to San Francisco. We had confirmed this when we picked up our tickets the week before our flight. (It is difficult, although not absolutely impossible, for me to sit in a normal coach seat.) However, when we checked in Thursday morning we were assigned seats in the middle of the coach cabin. When we objected we were told that only the gate agents could help us.
At the gate in Pittsburgh Marion exerted a bit of chutzpah and managed to get me switched to an aisle seat in first-class. This arrangement involved having the woman who was in that seat move to the window seat next to it. After we boarded, Marion was getting me settled when the woman arrived. As we explained the situation to her she asked Marion were she was going to sit. Upon hearing that Marion would be in the rear of the plane she said "that's ridiculous. You take my seat here and I will take your seat there".
We protested, of course, but she simply said that both ends of the plane got to San Francisco at the same time and that it made no difference to for where she sat. Fortunately, there was one remaining seat in the first-class section and our good Samaritan was able to move up to occupy it.
So, we had a smooth and comfortable return flight.
It really was a great week. Being together with family and friends, seeing Joel emerge from childhood into adolescence, watching his younger brothers continue to develop -- all of this was particularly heartwarming for me. It was also good to know that we can travel, albeit not necessarily easily.
Now, it's nice to be home and back into our normal routine.
