my birthday with Georgie

I found out today why Georgie is Georgie. His grandfather is George. His mom invited me for lunch to meet his dad and his grandparents and his aunts, all of whom come to “family lunch” at grandparent’s house at 2:00 p.m. (until 4:00p.m., that is a good family lunch) every day. You don’t need to wonder how they knew it was my birthday. You might wonder how they came up with two cakes and the decorated candle. To my every expression of thanks, Georgie’s mom kept responding, “It is my/our pleasure.” On leaving, there was a promise and a standing invitation, “You have our number. If you need anything, anything, a ride somewhere, a drive to the airport, if you get bored tomorrow, you just call one of us. And whenever you come back to Jordan, know that you have a family in Jordan.” Their home and this lunch was a wonderful expression of the way “family is family” among the Arab Christians of the Holy Land. My 64th birthday was a good one.