The Incredibles

I lived in the Fischbowl (sorry, Mendy) for about five months. While I have obviously known Chayie all my life, I had never really witnessed what her life is like or what her priorities are on a day-to-day basis. Being part of that household afforded me the opportunity to observe how she handles stress, how she deals with adversity, how she connects with people. She has this hard crust that she uses to protect herself from becoming too emotional. That's okay; I'm emotional enough for the both of us. When you get to watch her every day, however, you come to realize that that aforementioned crust belies the soft, caring mush-pot that resides underneath it. She takes out her wrath on a few favorite targets: moron drivers, phony goodie-goodies, Pomegranate. The rest of us get to benefit from her humor, her compassion, her smarts. She is there for everyone. She doesn't wait for someone to ask for help; she picks up the phone and asks what she can do. And what about Dave, you ask? He works his butt off and never complains. He adores her without smothering her. His encyclopedic knowledge about virtually everything is quite remarkable in its breadth. But here are the two things that I found truly amazing during my stay on East 26th Street... Thing One: how absolutely right they are for each other. Neither of them are outwardly affectionate people. Somehow, though, their love shines through their occasional caustic conversations. And I know that if either one of them ever reads this (especially Chayie) the reaction will be, "Yuk! I'm gonna vomit!" Thing Two: how solicitous they were toward me. They made me feel like my presence was the most natural thing in the world. When I tried to tell Chayie how amazing it was that she was not only putting up with me but actually nursing me back to health, she downplayed it all, saying that any sibling would do it. You know what? That's baloney. Not any sibling would do it, and most of those that did wouldn't do it as well or as wholeheartedly. Oh, and Dave! Despite his occasional grumpiness and/or sarcasm, he made me feel more welcome than I ever would have imagined. Of course I couldn't have stayed much longer after seeing him in his skivvies at three in the morning, but let's not go there. So, thanks guys. You saved my life. Literally. More than once. Just for that I plan to hang around long enough to be a pain in the butt for years to come!


Super Chayie