Boca Raton, FL – Back in 2008, our friends Gabi and Orna Klein, invited us along with Sam and Tali Schneider to the Asolo Rep Theater to the show Working, a Studs Terkel story with some new Lin-Manuel Miranda songs sprinkled in. After the thought-provoking show, we stopped at the Starbucks on University for a Shabbat evening coffee. As we walked through the door, a gentleman stood holding it. We each greeted him. We asked, “Weren’t you just in the show, Working, at the Asolo?” He smiled, and said, “Yes.” We bought him a coffee to thank him for his performance. We were dropped into each other’s lives while laughing intensely, sipping coffee to the last drop, and making an impression on each other and the relationship has continued. Darrin Baker, a tribe member, became a household name. That was 9 years ago. Somehow, we wound up taking the kids to another showing and Erin Weinberger (13 at the time), our daughter, and he became friends for life. While he was in Sarasota, he joined us for Passover. That was the best seder ever! Afterwards, Darrin shared stories of Broadway with all the kids. He explained how he had been in Tarzan on Broadway. He was Kerchak. Erin’s eyes lit up. She ran to her room and pulled out her recent Playbill; we had been in New York and had seen Tarzan. She opened it, and there was Darrin Baker’s name. We were aghast.

Many moons have passed and life has thrown us interesting curve balls. Tonight was a celebration of that friendship as Darrin and his girlfriend, Liz, and Steve and I happened to be in Boca at the same moment in time for different reasons. I was visiting two students, and it was b’sheret (Hebrew for a life-changing meant to be experience). We had only met Liz via Skype so seeing her in the flesh for the first time was surreal as was the moment of connection with Darrin. We Skype a lot with him too, so being able to actually  touch, hug, talk, and be in the present moment was exceptionally precious.

Our paths have crossed in the past. Darrin held a Triple Threat Program in NY and I escorted Julianne Simson and Erin to Harlem. We stayed at Darrin’s. The stories are unique and conjure great belly laughter. It was that trip that we saw Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights about characters, mostly Dominican Republic, living in the Washington Heights neighborhood in New York City. Ironically, when Erin isn’t traveling for shows such as Guys and Dolls or Beauty and the Beast, she is a Heights girl. His daughter, Ruby, was also being born on April 2nd two years ago when my Aunt Eunice Cohen (Aunt E) was passing away. Erin is now Ruby’s Aunt E. It’s just a cycle that we share (מְיֻחָד). So that is the backstory. We ushered in the Shabbat Queen at J. Alexander’s restaurant in Boca by reciting the blessing at the bar over beer, wines, and assorted spirits. When the bread arrived, we included the motzi. As we didn’t have access to Shabbat candles, we used the candles at the bar which you can see reflecting off my forehead and on Darrin’s bald head! We ate big – artichokes, veggies, steak, fajitas, and an overgrown piece of carrot cake which we split four ways – we laughed bigger and we paused for that brief moment to enjoy all we have in each other – lasting friendships.

Luckily, Shabbat runs into Saturday so the celebrations continued as we met up with Gaal Schneider at Kona Bay Cafe in Lantana, FL. Gaal is a student and friend. His parents are Tali and Sam Schneider – so let’s just say we have been on quite a few adventures together. Those stories are for another time. This visit was delightful, meaningful and just healthy. I am proud of Gaal and where he is landing at 20 years old. It is a stable space.

We headed back home in Freeda, the green Subaru. It was a quick excursion with favorable outcomes and for that it’s worth mentioning. Shabbat Shalom.