BACK FOR AWHILE

As I intimated in yesterday's entry, I've been gone. How gone? How far gone?

Let me count the ways. Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary,Germany (again), Spain, France, Monaco, Italy, The Vatican, Sicily, Greece, Croatia, New York City, Albany, NY, Cooperstown, New York City (again), Chicago, and back home. The last four aren't countries. Neither is the Vatican though it is not part of Italy.

The highlight of the trip was when my wife was shopping for some Italian pottery and asked me if it would go in our bathroom. I tried to think what our bathroom looked like. I sincerely had to pause and concentrate: we had been gone that long. Then last night, when I got up in the middle of the night to pee, I honestly was having to struggle to think where I was. Now, as far as I know, my mental faculties are as strong as ever, though that is one debatable point. Or maybe not. Maybe they've never been too sharp--"Teddy's not working up to his capabilities," my report card echoed from all my grade school teachers. My friends got comments like, "Tommy was a joy to have in class this year." Nothing about his capabilities. I think Gladys Carpenter started it in the third grade and all my other teachers just copied from her. After all how many joys could one teacher have?

So how was that the highlight of our trip? Longevity. We were gone so long that I called it a vacation from retirement. A holiday from idleness. A repast from continuity. A break, because I never did work up to my capabilities. Or as the old coach, Red Eldridge used to say, "If a job is worth doing, that's all it is. It doesn't have to be worth doing well. Doing it is enough."

I'll have specifics in a day or two. If I can find my computer.