To London, To London

My older brother and his family will travel to London in August in order to visit with my sister-in-law’s parents.

They will depart on Friday evening, August 1, one night after the rest of us embark for London, and they will return to the States on Sunday, August 17, two days before the rest of us head for home.

We will all actually be in London on Saturday, August 2—my mother’s birthday—but we will not attempt to get together that day. We will allow my nephew’s British grandparents to have their grandson and his parents to themselves that day, with no interference from us.

It is fortunate that our travel plans for August 2 will involve precisely the kind of day my mother will love: a visit to The British Museum, followed by a matinee performance at The National Theatre, followed by dinner in the Covent Garden area, followed by an evening theater performance. It will be a splendid way for us to celebrate her birthday, and the planning for that day was purely fortuitous, a most beautiful thing, I think.

This will be my nephew’s first visit to London. My brother and sister-in-law have not been out of the country since my nephew was born, and my sister-in-law, especially, is looking forward to a visit home. The past three summers, her parents have been forced to fly to New York for visits, since my sister-in-law could not fly in the late summer of 2005 and since she and my brother did not want to undertake long flights to London in 2006 and 2007 with an infant in tow. Further, if my brother and his family are to go to London, they more or less must go now, before it becomes unsafe for my sister-in-law to hazard a long flight.

I know they will have a wonderful visit.