It is 6:30, the sun is long down and we are obviously pretending it is years ago. We are going out of the house in the dark. We are going to a party where dinner isn’t going to be served until about 8:30. We are going to a party which will be crowded and indoors. What was I thinking?

Well, it’s the annual holiday party of the law firm that I co-founded over 30 years ago, and from which I retired about ten years ago. I will know maybe 10 people out of about 30. I will be the oldest. Edie will be second.

The party (back when it was held pre-Covid) was always festive. Good food, drink and conversation, and ending with a White Elephant Exchange, where we always hoped we would wind up with something better than we brought, but – to my memory – rarely did. This year, I have told the host that we are going to leave before the White Elephant Exchange. I think we will. Discipline. Discipline. Discipline.

It was a beautiful day today. This afternoon I went down to the Second Story Used Book store in Dupont Circle to look at their outside books, and see if I could find any bargains, typically books signed by the author. There was a copy of an oldish book signed by Alan Drury, but it looked its age, and I left it on the shelf. The Dupont area was quite crowded. Some sort of a Holiday bazaar, I guess, with crafts people set up with tents selling all sorts of things I don’t need, and many of which I couldn’t even identify. I was probably the oldest person walking on that block by 40 years.

When I left Dupont, I drove the short distance to Georgetown and went into the Bryn Mawr book store there (The Lantern is its official name) to see if they had anything interesting. They had a bizarre sale going on – any book or print marked $50 or higher was on sale for half price. Thus, a $49 book was on sale for $49, but a $50 book could be had for $25. I didn’t expect to find anything that I was going to spend that much money on but I did find a perfect, first edition copy of Sen. Ted Kennedy’s book “America: Back on Track”, published in 2006, signed by him on the title page. It was marked $75, so I got it for $37.50. It my first book signed by a Kennedy brother, and I am glad I found it.

This morning, we were at the Shabbat services of the Adas Israel havurah, which meets upstairs in the library of the synagogue, while the two main services are proceeding downstairs. We only meet monthly, and I got the first aliah, and special recognition of my birthday, which is something I actually was not looking or. I also delivered the Dvar Torah this morning, something I have been working on off and on for the past few weeks, and I think it went well. I have the text in print. I could append it to this blog, but I have no idea how to do that. Why not? Because, you see, I am 80 years old and, at least sometimes, must act my age.