Blood’s son Peter has heard the story of how his parents met many times. “Dad met Mom at a very crowded party in New York City. The gathering was so densely packed, Dad ducked under a grand piano to get some space. There was a young woman there, Esta Damesek, who had also crawled under the piano to escape the crushing throng. Dad sat down next to her and they talked for some time. She was an aspiring pianist and painter. When the crowd thinned out, they left the confines of the piano to stretch their legs, and Dad realized that Esta, at 5’ 11”, had 4 inches on him. They dated anyway and married a year later. Dad joked for years that they might never have dated had he met her standing.”