Paul's 5th birthday

Last night, Jenn came to the rescue to help out with the boys. They treat her like a dear aunt and I love that. And in the afternoon, we headed out to Paul's house in Venice for his 5th birthday party. The garden, long and inviting and a short walk from the beach lead to a glorious display of breads, fine cheese and wines that only a French couple could serve, the cake a tasty fresh cream and fruit feast served with French champagne. Just the boys, Paul and Lilly from Reuben's school and little sister Louisa made up the happy group of kids who chased bubbles, ran around the garden, climbed the play structure, messed around in the vegetable patch, read books, played puzzles and delighted themselves with life.

Meanwhile, us grown ups, united by our children's special needs, and by our cultures, French, German and British, enjoyed a really rather special day in which none of us wished to leave at all. We dreamed of heading up to the nearby snowy mountains over Christmas with one of the Dads dressed as Santa and shooting away. Wouldn't it be lovely if all our dreams could come true.

On the way home, we drove the scenic route, that is the one along 83rd St with all the fabulously decorated Christmas lawns. Callum would remark "that's for grown ups" at a particular set of decorations and Reuben would excitedly shriek at the inflatable Santas.

Some great work news. Working with the American Film Institute (thanks Challenge for the intro) for upcoming film events in Los Angeles such as the Lifetime Achievement Aware in film. That's been a dream job for about 30 years.