The family headed North to Boston for a great Bat Mitzvah celebration with Eytana and the rest of the family in early March. We had a chance to spend some time with Seth, Cynthia and his boys as well and generally had a grand time in New England.
Out in the San Diego area in late February for the annual IAB Annual Leadership Meeting, I took the family along to enjoy what we thought would be some warm west coast weather. That weather was unseasonably cold, but that didn’t deter us from hitting two of the high points for the family-friendly set, Legoland USA and the San Diego Zoo. Legoland was a huge hit with the boys, as you might imagine, and despite living two blocks from one of the better zoos around at home, we were blown away by the scale of San Diego. Awesome!
We lost a great man on Sunday. My brother-in-law’s father, Chuck Sagan, passed away suddenly as he and his wife and a large group of friends were returning from a holiday cruise in Ft. Lauderdale.
Chuck was such a sweet man – a classic Bostonian – and a true gentleman. I remember meeting him at my future father-in-law’s surprise 70th birthday party when I was just meeting the extended family I would eventually marry into, and loved him from that moment on. Talking Red Sox – or Patriots – or golf – Chuck had a thousand opinions on these topics! And the sense of family he represented to the Sagan clan was remarkable. Living in the same area as both his children – and his four grandchildren – Chuck had a tremendous impact on their lives in ways atypical in today’s culture.
I will think back to his grandson Austin’s bar mitzvah this past Fall and remember him (as pictured above) providing a blessing before the Shabbat meal with his wife and soulmate Phyllis. His life was a blessing, and he is already missed, terribly, by all those he touched in Swampscott, Boston and beyond.
Sam and Amy decorate our 2nd-ever attempt at a Sukkah back in October. We ‘repurposed’ a general use shade/shelter tent we picked up at Target by removing the roof, hanging muslin from the sides, and finding branches around the ‘hood. Worked quite well, until the rains came ;-).
