Saturday, September 7, 2013
Cousin Greg, affectionately known as Gregor, was a best friend of mine at various times of our lives. Two memories stand out vividly:
1) at various holidays, as young teens, Greg's brother Mark and we would play football on the lawn behind their family's house in Rose Valley, and invariably Mark and Greg would bait each other into arguing. Mark, the younger and fleeter, would always get in the last word, and then take off running as fast as he could, with Greg in something less than hot pursuit. Greg was in no hurry, knowing that he would finally catch Mark and mete out the necessary "justice." That footrace could sometimes last for 5 minutes or more, all over the property, but Greg always managed to catch his P.I.T.A. brother and give him "what for." That was ever so much more fun than the football!
2) For many years as adults, Gregor and I competed fiercely at "Sniff," a domino game that I learned from my dad. One winter, while I was living at our grandmother's house I hosted an evening of Sniff with Gregor, and kindly let him sit closer to the living room fireplace and positioned a standing lamp behind him. I was delighted to discover that the lamp not only enabled Gregor to see his dominoes better-- it made it possible for me to see through them and know EXACTLY which dominoes he had. So all that winter we played there in those same seats, and I won EVERY game. Gregor would never have been the wiser except that I shared my little secret with Elizabeth Seltzer later that year and of course she told Gregor immediately! I have often missed those good old days.
