No blogging this past week while visiting my brother Blane (with ball) and his family. They live in Bandar Lampung, Indonesia, and are home for just six weeks. Two years since we last saw each other and likely to be two more before next visit. I went bowling for the first time in 45 years. Played putt-putt. What is more important than family?
Category Archives: Family
Barb’s new Lexus
Barb’s Camry died (after ten years) so it was off to St. Louis to shop for a new one this weekend. I spent two very comfortable hours in the waiting area of the Lexus dealership while Barb talked herself into buying an RX330. Hard to call something this nice a sport utility vehicle. I confess to being pretty impressed with the Lexus “experience.” A greeter met us when we arrived and introduced Barb to her “sales and leasing consultant.” Apparently, you don’t have to sell the Lexus. The consultant is there to “assist you with your purchase.”
Lots of nice touches. If you have a breakdown on the road, Lexus sends out a flat-bed truck (“…we don’t tow”), puts you up in a hotel and provides you with a loaner. I watched the switchboard operator for a couple of hours. When she paged someone from the parts department, they arrived as quickly as they could. If they tagged on “…for a customer” to the page, the person arrived immediately. Just lots of little things like that. The dealership provided lunch for all employees. So, we started with a Tercel, then a Corolla, a Camry, 4 Runner and now, a Lexus. Well over a million miles in Toyota’s.
Barb with Dr. Denton Cooley
Reply
Long before she became a loathsome lawyer, Barb was a nurse. Specifically, a Surgical Intensive Care nurse. Following nursing school, she spent a year in Houston working in the long shadow of Dr. Cooley. He was famous way back then and she had the good sense to get a picture and Denton Cooley letter of reference. (PDF)
“A world-renowned surgeon, Dr. Denton Cooley pioneered many techniques used in cardiovascular surgery. He performed the first successful human heart transplant in the United States in 1968. In 1969, he became the first heart surgeon to implant an artificial heart in man. Cooley and his associates have performed more than 100,000 open heart operations–more than any other group in the world.”
(Reuters) Dr. Cooley died on November 18, 2016, at the age of 96.
Tell your friends
Did I mention that Barb built a house in Destin, Florida? Well, she did and it’s for rent. Great for family reunions if you’re into that kind of pain. A better plan might be to get some friends together (there’s three bedrooms) and split the cost for a week. You can check it out at AmberjackLanding.com. I’m through with getting shitty service in over-priced hotels in places I didn’t want to go to in the first place. My vacations will all be “One cold drink from the beach.”
The only safe place.
Brother Blane writes from Indonesia: “Just wanted to let you know we are all OK here. Seems like Indonesia just can’t stay out of the news. We don’t feel at all threatened here, but then I guess you never do until the terrorists strike. It is total madness. As I read about the sniper in the D.C. area I am reminded that the only safe place is to be where God wants you to be.”
500 Walter Street
I sold the family home this week. Not really a home for the last few years, but the place my brother and I grew up. I actually remember some of the places we lived before Evelyn persuaded John it made more sense to own than rent. I think they paid about $5,000 for the house back in the early 50’s. Probably paid $50 a month for 30 years. Evelyn had our trash guy plant a couple of little sycamore trees and they grew to 70 foot monsters before John had cut down because he got tired of “having leaves all over the yard.” Evelyn was gone by then.
50 years at 500 Walter Street boiled down to set of mis-matched golf clubs; a box of trophies (Blane’s); some really heavy high school year books; a set of 78 RPM records from the 40’s; a couple of pounds of mold and mildew; and a lifetime of memories. Everyone kept asking me if it was difficult to sell the house in which our family had lived all those years. I said no and that was more true than not. But for two days I kept hearing Peter, Paul and Mary singing The House Song.
This room here once had childish laughter
And I come back to hear it now and again
I can’t say that I’m certain what you’re after
But in this room, a part of you will remain.
John Mays died last week.
It was about eight o’clock in the evening on Tuesday, March 5, 2002. He was 76 years old. He’d been ill and in a nursing home for the last few years. Lots of John’s friends came to the funeral and it was comforting to see my father through the eyes of people he had known and cared about for fifty years. John was a radio announcer for about half of his 76 years and that’s the way I prefer to remember him.