Helena:  Will everyone be eating steak tonight? Well, then I am going order a merlot for dinner. They have a particularly nice one here.

Tina:  I’m sure that whatever you select will be delicious.

Everyone made their selections in food. Dylan, Helena and Marilyn decided to get the Porterhouse steak for three. They chose sautéed apparatus, some mashed potatoes and peas and onions as sides.  Tina ordered the Surf and Turf with sautéed spinach and onion rings.  Angie ordered the same as her mother. For starters, Angie ordered a shrimp cocktail, Tina ordered the seared tuna in sesame seed oil, Helena order the Empire Seafood platter for three which consisted of shrimp, clams, and stuffed mushrooms.

Once the cocktails arrived, they began to question Tina as to what had happened in the last couple of weeks.  Tina reminded them that the family had had dinner with them on Friday night.

Marilyn:  Well, since I was not at that dinner, I would love for you to give me a recap of what’s been going on since you got to California.

Tina:  Okay, I’ll try to be brief so I don’t bore my friends and daughter. Bette and I decided that we wanted to have a change of careers back in January. So, in June we gave our notice and rented a beach house in Redondo Beach for the months of July and August. The first week in July, we had Bette’s family in as guest for a week.

Marilyn:  Yes, Helena and Dylan told me about Bette finding her mother and her sister. That was an amazing story. I know she is pleased to have them in her life.

Tina:  We all are. I adore Mary and Paris. And Paris is getting married at Thanksgiving to Jeanette Miller and we are all just thrilled.  The next week, it was just Bette and I and the kids.  We just took a week to veg out. The next week, we had our friend’s reunion. We invited Helena & Dylan, Shane and Bobbie and their two boys and a friend, Alice and Lynn and their two girls, Sonny and Kit to join the four of us at the beach to catch up on our lives from when we were all together ten years ago. It really was a wonderful week. But I’m sure Helena and Dylan have you filled you in on that. That brings us to last week.  That was the week that we had to start getting things lined up to make this move from New York to LA. We started to get organize, get documentation to get our driver’s licenses, bank accounts, vehicles, and so forth. At the beginning of the week, Bette and I purchased a couple of used vehicles which are wonderful cars. Angie took her test and got her learner’s permit. We did some shopping for Angie. We opened some bank accounts, Bette put some feelers out for a job and for a school for Daniel. We set Angie up to take driving lessons once we return from New York and we planned our trip to come here to sort out Angie’s wardrobe. While I’m here, Bette had an interview for a job and Daniel had an interview and testing for a school today and a doctor’s appointment for Daniel tomorrow. So, as you can see, we have been busy, busy, busy!