The Sokol Invasion Begins
You only turn 100 once in a lifetime – if you’re lucky. My grandmother (my mother, Susan’s, mother), Phyllis Sokol, will turn 100 on September 22. She is a truly amazing women, still razor sharp and quick witted. The best part of her upcoming birthday is the wave of visiting family members from around the world who are coming to McMinnville to visit her.
The first to come were Andre and Charlie Sokol, two of four sons of my mother’s brother who live in London. For those of you who have visited the winery during the week, you’ve probably encountered another Andre – my brother, Alex’s, yellow lab. Well, introducing Andre (the person) to Andre (the dog) was an interesting experience. I don’t think Andre (the person) was very complimented, but he was quite gracious about it. Andre (the dog) is always thrilled to meet another person, especially if that person is foolish enough to start tossing his Frisbee (and in this case, Andre the person was…). But, when my other brother, Nik, mentioned that his cat was named Charlie, I think Andre & Charlie, the people, started to think we’re nuts. Well, we’re really not. I think we just have a limited repertoire of names.
Take for instance Nik’s first son, whom he named Alexander after our brother, Alex. Then look at one of Alex’s twins, named Nikolas after Nik (his other son is named Avery, which is big Alex’s middle name). Grandma Phyllis always says that she would never have named my mother Phyllis. Because, she said, people would call them “Big Phyllis and Little Phyllis� then “Old Phyllis and Young Phyllis�. She’s totally right. We have big A (Alex), middle A (me), little A (Alexander), wet A (Andre, the dog) and littlest of A’s (Avery). It’s very complicated and I am encouraging Nik and his wife, who are pregnant with a girl, to choose a non-family name (that is, unless they would like to name her Alison, in which case I would gladly accommodate another “A� in the family).
The Sokol invasion continues with more cousins, uncles and aunts coming during the next few weeks.
In the photos, from top to bottom:
1. Andre (the person) and Chef Alex
2. Andre (the person), me and Charlie (the person)
3. Andre (the dog)