My day with Uncle Robbie

I spent the day today with Uncle Robbie. He's Bill's great uncle and even though Bill and I are divorced, as soon as he knew that I was in town, he wanted to meet up just to see how I was doing. This man is one of the most inspiring men I have ever had the good fortune of knowing. They certainly broke the mold when they made him. At 82 he is still very active. He started a new on-line advertising business before people even knew what banner ads were and now his company has an international presence, he plays tennis regularly (in fact, played for 1.5 hours just the day before), travels to and from the east coast and the west coast to visit his children and grandchildren and always makes time for his many dear friends. He's had friendships that have lasted 70-80 years and he never takes that for granted. He's lived in SF, LA and Chicago before settling in NYC to run NBC's advertising and ended up doing that for almost 40 years. He said he lucked out that he landed in NYC because this is the best city in the world as far as he's concerned and believes that my decision to move here in not only a smart one, but will be great for me. The opportunities here are endless and I guess being around the block for as long as he has and starting a new company after retirement, he is someone who would know. Anyways, it was definitely a treat to see him. And leave it to Uncle Robbie to want to drag me to Rockefeller Center from Grand Central station in the pouring rain just so that he could show me the famous Christmas Tree. He said that he's had the pleasure of taking Barbara Walter's and Jane Pauley's kids when they were younger to do the same thing and wanted to share that experience with me too. So to be able to see the Rockefeller Christmas tree for the first time with a guy who took BW and JP's kids, well damn...what more could you ask for?