The Man I Met at the Algonquin

More than 20 years ago, I took H. to the Algonquin one evening--where writers and literary lions like Dorothy Parker and New Yorker editor Harold Ross had famously lunched from 1919 to 1929 as part of the witty Algonquin Round Table--for a glass of champagne. H. had published his first article in The New York Times. It was something about school health clinics. The lovely painting above [by Amy Stewart, amystewart.com] portrays the hotel's lobby, the Oak Room, where you can pull up a chair and have a cocktail.

Since then, we've both had successes and failures--soaring and sinking. He wrote regularly for the Times Science section for a time, and I published a couple of smaller pieces in the paper's Living section, in the now defunct At the Nation's Table. But as old as we are, we're still young in the pride in our craft. Things are rough with my Dad again--Sis and I have strategized on the phone several times already this morning, and called the doctors and nurses, our info lifeline, until we can get back to Englewood Hospital. But a happy spot in the day is H.'s essay in today's Health section of the Times. Here's the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/health/20essay.html?ref=health
I'm proud of him for managing his diabetes so well since it descended on him when he was 18, far from home and family at a Wisconsin college. Now that Figgy is almost 15, I see how young he really was!

P.S. I really love the photo with H.'s essay, too--the lady's hat looks like something from a Norman Rockwell painting.

P.P.S. Sis introduced me to the oak-paneled Algonquin! And drenched my life with many other things I love in NY, such as the Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the well-heeled New York Yacht Club [her husband Don, who sailed for much of his life, is a member], Broadway shows, theatre in Central Park and more. It's not that I hadn't been to the museums and some shows before, but it's that she took me again and again as an adult, which is a gift I can never repay. For my part, I dragged her to the Jersey Shore, Rumpelmayer's for hot fudge sundaes, the Palm Court at the Plaza for high tea, and renowned restaurants like 21 for upscale burgers and people watching. As for H., he took me to cool-cat things, like the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center for some alternative music, Tower Records, Mamoun's Falafel Restaurant near Washington Square Park, and more.