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Having a good time playing doctor (wouldn't mind being on tv, but, hey, if I had Denzel's chops I would be!). I get to have a 40 hour work week, moonlight on weekends and evenings when I want, and do some procedures without being on call!
Anyway, my training in Chicago, Atlanta, Baltimore, and Indianapolis were my dues for life in the perfect east coast oasis of Delaware. 2 hours to Manhattan and 2 hours to DC! Obviously if you love lobster and crabs, you have to be on the east coast. Can you believe I saw a sign on Michigan Ave in Chicago for MAIN LOBSTER......wait for it......! It was the dead of winter, and I was home sick. I didn't have the heart to burst their bubbles...
I did get to go to China as part of an Occupational Medicine delegation, and the Great Wall really is Great! So is the Forbidden City! I went to Egypt on my own for presentations in Cairo and Sharm El Sheik. The Pyramids, the Valley of the Kings, and the Temples in Luxor are really worth the trip! Public Health and Occupational Medicine conferences in London were enlightening, but as different as our systems are, things seem to work (although tenuously) in each place.
Speaking of Africa, so far I have found my maternal DNA links me to Sierra Leone and my paternal DNA lilnks me to Gabon. I will need to set aside plenty of time for travel to these places.
I am feeling all of my 53 years (in April...), and haven't had time to do any sports except a treadmill or a rowing machine. Only gained 30 pounds since high school!
I met a wonderful woman when at Johns Hopkins, and we have been married 17 years! I had a son before I met her, so we finished raising him through high school and we are empty nesters! Jaquan is 30, married, has two step daughters and he made me a grandfather last May!!!
Don't worry, we have about 7 godsons in 4 states, and the 28 year old godson in California has a son. Doesn't that make me a great-godfather? No, of course not, I am just Uncle Mike! I am getting used to being (gulp) Grand dad!
So, why haven't I been to any reunions? We always celebrate Thanksgiving at our house in Delaware. Family and friends travel from Massachusetts and Maryland to come, so we are Turkey Day Central! I would love to see everybody, but maybe online? I do get to Massachusetts from time to time, so I can try to look some folks up when I am in the vicinity.
Oh, and sorry 'bout the Patriots....I'm a long-time Steelers fan! I still love the Bruins! After traveling to The Canary Islands, I got interested in what the rest fo the world calls football, and now I can watch a match, and my wife will hear me from the other side of the house screaming,
"Oh!.....Watch it....D'Oh!.....No, No, Yes!" Then she'll ask the score, and I'll say, "Nil-Nil".
So, now that I've taken a break from creative writing (oh, yeah, I've been trying to write ten short stories at once, and I keep coming up with more outlines, but I can't finish one yet. New Years' Resolution, anyone?) I can get back to my beautiful wife and our man/woman cave....can't you tell I'm happily married?
