185 of 210 : John

His father was the school’s headmaster. Low-key geek one minute, entitled rich kid the next. Somehow we became co-editors of the newspaper, though I did most of the work—albeit at his very comfortable home, listening to early Elton John on their professional sound system, and drinking his father’s booze.

184 of 210 : Margot

She was the most unlikely Elvira. Granted, we didn’t have a lot to choose from for our production of Blithe Spirit (I played Charles), but she was tall and brassy, not lithe or lilting. But she was perfect. She had that ascerbic wit, that bite, and she dazzled the audience.

183 of 210 : Susan #2

One great benefit of Mom’s insurance plan: doctors who make house calls! Susan is the visiting doctor’s nurse, and she’s a ray of sunshine. She hugs everyone hello and goodbye, jokes happily with patients and family, keeps the doctor on task, and generally makes one feel good to be alive.

182 of 210 : Steve

He’s a reporter for People, so he’s always passing along the most delicious celebrity gossip that can’t be printed in the magazine, and getting his photo taken with famous people. Friends always tease him that he’s not really black, since he looks decidedly Latino and “sounds white” on the phone.

181 of 210 : Neil

An optician by day, an artist by night. His friends are, howyousay, eclectic. At a park they found a homeless man sleeping in the picnic shelter, so they left him some wine, a bottle of apricot beer, and an oatmeal cookie, then took pictures of him, wrapped up and unconcious.

180 of 210 : Jesse

In ten years, he’ll be running a cult. In his post as education director for his social group, he’s mandated that all members participate in a “ritual of rededication” to the organization, and leads a spiritual exploration project in which you “risk your very existence” if you miss a deadline.

179 of 210 : Felix

How long does it take to lose an accent? Our other neighbor, a congenial fellow with a terribly sweet wife (with crippling RA), has the thickest New Yawk accent I’ve ever heard outside of the Bronx. I was shocked to learn that he’s lived in Florida for, like, 30 years.

178 of 210 : Yet Another Bill

Our next-door neighbor is an elderly gent with a decided lisp. Give him a second and he’ll tell you all about his innumerable ailments and his countless doctors’ appointments each week. I try to be friendly, but there are only so many times you can hear about his gall bladder.

177 of 210 : Tracy

My eldest niece is developmentally disabled, though not profoundly. To everyone’s surprise, she met a good man, and they married; seems there’s a shoe for every foot after all. Alas, the sole fell off after a few years, and they divorced, but she’s doing remarkably well now on her own.

176 of 210 : Uncle Bill

Extremely tall and lanky, with the most unfortunate buckteeth. He never married, never dated, never did anything even remotely social except drive a Checker Cab all his life. Lived the attic of his sister’s home, had the same nervous laugh she did. Makes you wonder about their life as children.

175 of 210 : Elisa

She was so shy that she rarely spoke above a whisper in her lilting Caribbean accent. But then she’d start to sing. Oh. My. God. Easily the most silken, beautiful, utterly natural voice I’ve ever heard. The music she made was as simple and graceful as water dancing over stones.

174 of 210 : Edna

She was the corpse in the next room at my aunt’s funeral. Edna’s relatives didn’t wear lugubrious expressions or speak in hushed, reverent tones like ours did. They had a par-tay! I thought the laughter and joy was terrific. But getting their photos taken with the body? Not so much.

173 of 210 : Chris #1

Mom’s sister’s son, Julie’s brother. Probably the best person in the family, all things considered: funny, smart, genuine, strong, hardworking, caring, committed. Good-looking, too. He’s taken just enough risks to have really lived, while staying unfailingly responsible. Does he have some hidden dark side? With Chris, I think it’s WYSIWYG.

172 of 210 : Toni

Dewey and Margaret had three children: Ernest, Peggy, and Thelma. Ernest had me; Thelma had Toni. Toni married twice, but had no offspring. I too am childless. With us, our grandparents’ lineage dies. Considering the dysfunction on this side of the family, I’m not entirely sure it’s a bad thing.

171 of 210 : Aunt Thelma

I remember her mainly in two different contexts: smoking and telling stories with her sister Peggy (she of the foghorn voice and brassy demeanor) at family gatherings, and late in life, blind and crippled from diabetes, shut off from the world, her television and old blind dog her only companions.

170 of 210 : Walt and Ken

Princess’s memorial—or rather, a fabulous celebration of her life, a riot of excess, held on her birthday—was last weekend, and Walt just uploaded all the photos he shot. My favorite shot was of Walt’s partner, Ken, holding their bird, Pobrecito, whom they brought on the trip with them.

("He's not invisible, dammit!"
was the weekend's continual refrain)

169 of 210 : Tanya

We have wonderful conversations while she cuts my hair. We talk about movies—I rave about V for Vendetta, she adores Jackass. Sports? I discuss tennis, she waxes poetic about NASCAR. Music? I love Yo Yo Ma, she’s crazy about Garth Brooks. We just shake our heads at one another.

168 of 210 : Sharon

We had a conversation one day about race relations in America. I argued that money was a stronger motivator than racism; she tried to explain why I was wrong, but it didn’t really sink in. The government’s response to Katrina in New Orleans just proves what a fool I was.

167 of 210 : Hunter

He lives on an estate (a hundred acres or so) in Virginia; founded a global investmant firm; wrote a bunch of books; and serves on fifteen non-profit boards of directors. No room for schadenfreude, though: he’s a genuinely kind and generous man with a passion for ethics, of all things.

166 of 210 : J&K

When I met them early in their relationship, I never thought they’d last. They were too dissimilar. But their wedding—my first as an officiant—was glorious, and they grew together quite happily, but became rather homogeneous and insular in the process. “Becoming one” is not always a good thing.

165 of 210 : Becca #1

She had two facial expressions: a sunny naiveté, and a puppydog-eyed look of concern and compassion. Our group visited a nursing home every other Sunday. One week she held the hand of an elderly woman whose family had forgotten her birthday, and said, “I really hope you live another year!”

164 of 210 : Nora

Such a lovely woman. Warm, welcoming, a true peacemaker, even when she felt passionately about some controversial issue. Always seemed to be a bit of an outsider in the village. Maybe people were frustrated because she didn’t like to badmouth others—a trait few others in town seemed to share.

163 of 210 : David #2

Got an email (something forwarded again and again) from a former neighbor, one of the more prominent figures in the little town I lived in for two years. David was by turns artistic and boorish, wise and unbelievably foolish, statesmanlike and childish. I wanted to like him, I really did.

162 of 210 : Rayna

We went to a club one evening where amateurs of both sexes stripped to their undies. Erik kept saying, “Titties! Lemme see titties!” Rayna, his busty date, sat on his lap and laughed uproariously. He’d already decided to propose when she got pregnant, so they just moved up the timetable.

161 of 210 : Erik

Wow, just 50 more to go!

My nephew the athiest, and Hannah and Molly’s father, has grown from a rather self-centered young thing to a man utterly devoted to his family. He stumbled into the pawn business by accident, but now runs a very successful shop with designs on a more discreet, upscale version for bigwigs.

160 of 210 : Darryl

My other brother, Darryl, phoned this afternoon to chat about the Roseate Spoonbill walking along the edge of the lake behind his house, and the Wood Stork preaching to a congregation of attentive egrets. Since Janet had her bout with cancer, he’s been careful to notice small glories like these.

159 of 210 : Uncle Aubrey

Vinnie even outlived her son, Aubrey. He owned a general store, a wondrous place to this terminally suburban kid. It still serves that tiny town in rural Maryland, and still displays his name. When he died, the raccoons he kept in cages were released in the woods behind his home.

158 of 210 : Aunt Vinnie

My great grandmother’s sister was crotchety when she was young and nearly unbearable when she was old. After she was widowed, Vinnie lived with Grandma Hoyle, and never thereafter lifted a finger. She just loved being waited on. Why her older sister and benefactor became her servant, I’ll never know.

157 of 210 : Lenny

Has fascinating ideas about reincarnation. At death, he believes, the self goes back into the Great Soul like a pail of water tossed into the ocean. Then a new pail comes along to scoop up some water. The same water, the same soul? A strange admixture? Or something altogether new?

156 of 210 : Stanislav

Stan Grof is a serious bigwig, basically creating transpersonal psychology. I met this great bear of a man after years of hero-worship-from-afar, and when he hugged me genially, I actually blubbered while telling him how much his work meant to me. And he wasn’t the least bit embarrassed or uncomfortable.