xo bro

The 6 week garbage strike was over and for a while there I thought we had managed to escape unscathed. With the rental apartment and the laundry shoot I was thrilled to say I had suffered no indignity.

The long weekend arrived and the strike had finally come to an end. To be honest I was sick of hearing about this city workers strike on the news. Who the hell needs to bank their sick days for retirement. They are SICK days. Not vacation days for christ's sake. It is just glutenous and they all feel they are owed something.

And then just when I think I have made it, I embark on a bike ride and am engulfed with the stench that is beyond description. Horrific smells and troops of garbage trucks come at us from every direction. I am choking back vomit.

"Breath throught your mouth" my friend screams at me.

Later I figure out that the place I was playing tennis for the first half of the summer was actually where the garbage was being stored. I don't think I will ever forget the site of those tennis courts and the smell.

And my brother called tonight to say that he called off the wedding. After the invitations and the flights booked home. They are done. Nine years later.

"She is dead to me", was all I could say. "dead".

Maybe the order of things is back. Maybe it was meant to be that my younger brother would not be married before me. Lucky for him he is a commodity in demand. A jewish doctor. Because he is also the sweetest man I know and his broken heart breaks mine.

xo