05-JUL-B-6
AFTER A
“LONG-RUNNING MONTH”
AND A SHORT-SCRAMBLE DEPARTURE RUSH, DERWOOD
IS IN BEAUTIFULLY SUPERB CONDITION,
I AM FIT AND
TRIM, AND I LEAVE WITH A HEAVY HEART THAT ECLIPSES MY ENTHUSIASM
FOR THIS TWO
VENUE/TWO NATION/TWO ADVENTURE TRIP ON A SUNNY SUMMER AFTERNOON FROM THE
DERWOOD WOODS
July 24,
2005
It is takeoff time, and I am awaiting my soon-to-be-freshman medical student Amy Fiedler as she and I will sort surgical packs and stop for Chinese dinner as she drops me in Dulles, to be meeting me in two weeks in the Frankfurt Airport August 5 to continue a conjoint travel with the other participants on to Asmara Eritrea. Today, I leave Derwood—and it has never looked better—the yard all trimmed and cleared of all downfalls, weeded and mowed and with a park bench in the shade to match the nice young buck in velvet standing behind it. The unused new Master Bedroom Suite is in good shape, and I have done all the cleaning out of the house, trash, refrigerator, and the papers have all been mailed in for the ELDP courses that are due when I am gone.
I have been running each day, from eight to twelve miles, and packaged up the good Ultra light Reeboks for their return—startled to realize I have put on over fifty miles each week of the last month. The Audi is tuned and gassed for my return, and my beautiful “retreat” here will be vacant with the mail being held even though Jim the postman will come to nap in the hammock and keep an eye on it.
Amy
was a student in the tropical medicine course to which I had lectured about
eighteen months ago. She, and each other
member of the class came up afterwards to express their appreciation for what I
was doing and said that they are “wannabes.”
She asked if she could apply to go with me, and I assented. Now she has the good news, that as a
consequence of that epiphany, she applied to medical school and will start GW
this August as a freshman—immediately from
FAREWELL
CALLS
As
I got ready to have Amy come over and begin packing up a few more packs of
surgical gear, I got a call from Emily, from Craig Schaefer, and made one to
sign out. I got
Yes,
I should have known that lesson before, particularly since I might have learned
from every other man who has been so foolish as to give his heart in a
commitment to
I hoped the best for her and wished that she might thrive. I have some concerns that she is coming down off the crest of her “self-esteem improvement course” in singing the opera gig in Italy in which she had discovered for herself that she could sing still, and that she did not want to sing, but wanted to teach, and that in a small comfortable environment such as Simpson, whatever insecurity might be from investing herself in such a small scale academic outlet. And, she wanted a much smaller life than she could have with the continuously challenging stretch with me. She asked “Who does your housework?” I explained “I do.” She added, I do not like doing housework, and would have to have it done if someone could afford it for me. I said, “That is why I would be an ideal mate.” She responded: “That all depends on what kind of mate someone is looking for.” Since this seemed to be her day for a determined upbeat series of digs at all I might represent, I wished her well and hoped (against reasonable expectations) that “she might thrive,” and said “Goodbye Virginia.”
I felt relief after signing out, since I could see the whole burden of carrying a soon-to-repeat cyclic crash, while she props up her self esteem now with the horse show scene and a number of other conspicuous and superficial material things, rejecting what I represent as real and wonderful, but just not for her. I would agree, and the consumerism and superficiality, from enhanced appearances to socially trophy association in the Hunt Club Ball—I am grateful for having missed that bullet and being on my way to something more worthwhile if less fashionable among the beautiful people.
AMY ARRIVES, GOES OVER PHOTO ALBUMS,
AND WE PACK UP FOR LATER
THEN LEAVE DERWOOD, CHINESE DINNER,
AND DULLES DROPOFF
Amy
arrived, and we did our thing. She had
taken the Tropical; Medicine course as a GWU undergrad at which I gave my lecture
on tropical surgery. She took a year
that she spent at
BOARD BRITISH AIR 292
AND FLY TO TROUBLED
I was selected for “random special inspections” but I was also very cooperative and had extra time so it went well. I had typed up the paragraphs above largely to be sure I had a full charge in my accessory batteries to hold me through the long flights that will have me arriving in Baku, Azerbaijan tomorrow night on the juice stored in these batteries. So—Bon Voyage to you, too, as you travel along with me!
REG FRANCIOSE’S FATHER,
PASSING ON AS I SPEAK TO EACH OF THE
FAMILY,
AND THEY SHARE A LAUGH OVER HIS
”FINAL PRACTICAL JOKES”
Aloft, I
have one other story to tell. Reg
Franciose, had just returned from his Peruvian holiday in climbing with Gene
Moore and son, and had arrived back at work when he was called to
I called
today to speak to the whole family.
Reg’s Mom is particularly appreciative of me, and remembers what I had
done for Reg in GWU med school as well as subsequently at
Reg had interesting stories about his father
and his elder brother being practical jokers.
Immediately after his father’s death with the whole family in
attendance, the refrigerator filed with food went out. There was no hope in the repairs that were
promised on Wednesday of next week. Sue
found a rental agency, and they sent over a refrigerator to transfer all the
food to and it was forgotten until a truck pulled up and burly men got out to
move the rental refrigerator in past the body lying in the living room. They tried to explain. The new refrigerator was hooked up and
re-loaded, with an accessory plug in the basement. Other family arrived, such as Reg’s brother
Wayne and his boys whom he used to call the “Disgustos” and with whom I had
made climbing vacations in
I have watched a single movie
before trying to sleep, an action murder mystery with Michael Douglas called “A
Perfect Murder” in which the woman is having an affair with an artist lover
named “David” and her husband hires him to put a hit on her, which
backfires. I dedicated a more reasonable
time to trying to nap through some turbulence, having written a birthday letter
of farewell which I will try to mail from