Around town: Post Mother's Day wish

Here's my column this week. My plan? Pre-Shavuot cocktails with at Cheers! because it is ten minutes from Temple Beth Am & twenty minutes from Adat Ari El

The column:

Mother’s Day. It’s a tough time for me. But I am surrounded by love

I like the presents. This year, Rachel gave me a lavender plant, in a beautiful pot. When I look at it, I think of her. And in my purse, I still have the pen, the one that Andrew gave me for Mother’s Day, the year before he died.

On Mother’s Day I think about both my children.

This year, there are other concerns. The economy. Our quest to fix things. To repair the world, one disease at a time.

“How’s it going?” I asked my daughter. advertisement

“Not sure,” she said.

“Look,” I explained, “the economy is bad. All the nonprofits are having trouble.”

She shrugged and showed me the letter:

We thank you for the support you’ve given to the Andrew Torres Memorial Golf Classic over the last four years. In the hours before he lost his battle to cancer, at the age of 23, Andrew made his family and friends promise to help find a cure for this disease. It is a testament to Andrew’s memory that we’ve raised over $200,000 to support the important cancer research at Huntington Medical Research Institutes. In an effort to engage more young professionals in the fight to cure cancer, Andrew’s friends have organized Cheers to Andrew! We need your help to make this event a success.

“Nice letter,” I said. “I hope people show up on May 28.”

“I’m worried,” said Rachel.

Rachel is 25 years old. She worries. I continued reading"

Cheers to Andrew! is an evening of food, drinks and fun to celebrate the life of our former classmate and friend, and benefits HMRI’s promising research to identify a protein biomarker for liver cancer. Cancer affects people of all ages, and this event is a collaborative effort to recruit more support for HMRI. Please join us in welcoming this new generation of supporters.

I handed the letter back to Rachel and said, “It’s a good letter.”

So, here is the scoop. Please come support Rachel and Andrew’s friends. Cheers to Andrew! takes place May 28 at 6 p.m. at Remedy Lounge in downtown LA, with food provided by adjoining restaurant, Provecho. Provecho and Remedy Lounge are owned by Andrew’s Flintridge Prep classmate, Jill Bigelow, and her husband, Gabriel Morales. Gabriel is also the executive chef, crafting delicious and innovative Mexican tapas. If you dine at Provecho on May 28, make sure to say, “Cheers to Andrew!” and Provecho will donate 10% of your bill to HMRI.

Tickets are available online at cheers.andrewtorres.org, or by calling my office at (626) 792-3175. Each $50 ticket includes appetizers, a free drink, and a raffle ticket to enter to win my husband’s Dodger tickets and a Nintendo Wii. The silent auction will feature gift certificates to popular L.A. restaurants, more Dodger tickets, yoga classes, beautiful jewelry, and the baskets I won at WriteGirl last week. And some other stuff I think I bought to donate but don’t tell my husband. Thanks.

Some day, I pray, cancer will be a disease of the past.


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ANITA SUSAN BRENNER is a longtime La Cañada Flintridge resident and an attorney with Law Offices of Torres and Brenner in Pasadena. (626)792-3175

La Cañada Valley Sun: La Cañada Flintridge, California

Adat Ari El's scholar-in-residence for Shavuot is Rabbi Shawn Fields-Meyer !

Temple Beth Am 3RD ANNUAL COMMUNITY SHAVUOT TIKKUN IKAR, Pico Egal Minyan and Temple Beth Am will teach us and engage us in discussion. 9:15, Ma'ariv. 9:45-11:15, Plenary. 11:30-12:30, Breakout Sessions. 12:45, All Night Study Begins. 5:30, Shaharit.