When our three kids were younger, we were very lucky that our immediate family lived minutes, not hours or days away! Susie’s Mom and Dad were in Hempstead and later East Meadow. My Mom was in Bayside. Susie’s sister and family were in Huntington, and her brother and his wife in Merrick. We, living in Mineola, were pretty much in the geographic center of our entire family. A 20 to 30 minute drive, got us to any of their houses, so casual drop-ins were very easy to do.
Then there were holidays. The hardest thing to decide about most holidays was who was going to host, and what could the rest bring. It seemed very normal and natural, and we never really realized how lucky we were. Our oldest son Billy reminded us of this fact of his childhood recently, but now, as the title of this piece says, family life changes!
Life has indeed changed, and Susie and I are at the center of those changes. We were both born geographically on Long Island…Susie in Amityville, and me in Jackson Heights, in the New York City Borough of Queens. Our entire married life, we lived in Nassau County…first Port Washington, then New Hyde Park, and from 1986 to 2017, in the same house in Mineola. Over time, Susie retired (June of 2013), I retired (January, 2016), and then we moved out of the Mineola house (November, 2017). We not only moved out of Mineola, we moved off Long Island and out of New York State, and made the house we’d owned at the beach in Ocean City, New Jersey since 2005 our forever home!
Changes happened in our three children’s lives too. First, they are all married! Krissi and her husband Mike live in Astoria, in the NYC borough of Queens. Krissi’s twin brother Kenny and his husband Chris have just finished up a year long contract on Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas, but before that, they were in Los Angelos, and who knows exactly where they will end up. Oldest son Bill and his wife Lori made the move a couple of years ago off of Long Island down to Raleigh, North Carolina, along with our Grandchildren Layla and Henry, and just bought a brand new house as their family has grown with the addition of our newest Grandchild, Annabelle, 6 months ago. So, like many American families, our family is now spread out, and we no longer have the luxury of living 20 to 30 minutes from each other.
On a recent weekend, however, we made the effort and were rewarded by spending some family time with two thirds of our children, their spouses, and our three Grandkids! Susie and I took the 8+ hour drive from Ocean City to Raleigh on Thursday morning. Krissi and her husband Mike flew down from New York after work on Friday, and it was a weekend of family, fun, and babysitting! Just the best!!
She would often times squat next to our chairs and talk to us when the bar wasn’t busy.
As most parents do, we’ve always tried to be very supportive of our three children, and all their activities. When they were little, that meant attending practices and games as they played sports through the Mineola Athletic Association. T-Ball, Soccer, Little League, and for one freezing season, roller hockey with oldest son Billy! All three of them were involved with the 
Mineola High School Marching Band (Billy played the Quad Drums, Krissi the Mellowphone, and Kenny was a Drum Major), so our job was to make sure they got to practices and to travel to weekly Marching Band Competitions all over Long Island, and New York State to support the band. Hey, it’s what we think parents should do!
Park, The Musical. Well, of course we went off again, driving to Connecticut, upstate New York, and every other place the tour stopped that was within driving distance! Next he spent close to 2 years in the National Tour of the Broadway musical Annie! Yes, the sun did come up tomorrow, and Mom and Dad, brother and sister, and even Grandmas journeyed across the Northeast to see the show!!
Over the years we’ve traveled by car, plane, and even boat to see him perform! We traveled to Janesville, Wisconsin twice in 3 months…once with the whole family to see him as Sammy in the Wedding Singer and a couple of months later, in a blizzard to see him as Mr. Shellhammer in Miracle on 34th Street. We flew to Chicago and drove to Warsaw, Indiana 
the week after Thanksgiving to see him star as Jean Shepard in A Christmas Story, the Musical at the Wagon Wheel Theater. Then, when he got the part of Amos Hart in the musical Chicago, aboard the world’s largest cruise ship (at the time), Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas, we just had to sail to support him! In fact, while he was on that contract, we sailed twice! Once just Mom and Dad, but the second time sister and brother and fiancé came along too! We D’Elias do believe in being supportive!
We’ll see both Kenny and Chris in Saturday Night Fever, where Kenny is featured as Father Frank Junior. Chris is normally one of the featured dancers, but due to a cast member illness, we expect him to be playing Double J during our cruises! We are looking forward to seeing him step up to the plate, and hit a homer as 
Double J!! Then it will be time for the Cyrc type show, In The Air, where Kenny is one of the stars of the show and Chris a featured dancer and aerialist. Rounding out the performances are two offerings just featuring one of the boys. During the 70’s Street Party on the Royal Promenade, Kenny performs with one of the female singers in the 70’s Set! Then, during a new parade that we haven’t seen before, Chris is the Admiral of the Fleet and runs the whole thing! So looking forward to that as it’s brand new, and something we’ve never seen before!
our sons with laser accuracy, because as it’s always been, there is nothing better than being there to support our kids, in whatever they do! Hell, if Bill or Krissi want to do a Take Your Parents to Work day, we’re there for it, but I doubt if they would! We’ve journeyed to North Carolina to watch our Granddaughter Layla’s dance recital and to Maryland to watch Mike’s niece Maddy dance, and we will continue to support all the performers in our family in whatever they do! There is nothing better!!
You see, on Tuesday night, Sue holds court at the Back Bar (Captain Jacks Bar – Named for the late Jack Thomas..Jimmy and Jeff’s Dad) at Charlies! It’s a night populated by her regulars. First, some of her older customers, the “Dessert Club” comes at about 5 PM, then at about 6:45, Susie and I show up, along with some of the other second string regulars like Liz and Mike. Then after we’re done, she has others that show up depending on if volley ball is in session or not. The only thing we have to decide on is what we are going to eat that night. As soon as she sees us walk in the door, Sue already has our drinks in progress. Since we’ve been low carbing, and staying away from OJ, our Screwdrivers have morphed into Grey Goose Martinis, and we are hardly settled on our barstools, before the chilled glasses of goodness are in front of us! Now, if it is Tuesday night, and we are in town, we are at Charlies! We are indeed creatures of habit!
R New Adventures 