My Lifelong Childhood

A FORK IN THE ROAD "Two roads diverged in a wood and I...I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."                               Robert Frost (1874-1963) I'm sure we've all been in the situation where something in life offers us a choice and we decide on which path to take, and the rest of your life is either enriched or regretted.  There are many forks in the road for all of us, some chosen with careful thought, some more impulsively.  I suppose my decision to go to Belgium is certainly one I've never lamented.  As you remember, in my last post, I wrote about meeting the Steinbergs that cold, rainy night in a fairly empty Henri Premier restaurant, deciding to pull our tables together and share a meal, after which we shared a long and fruitful friendship as well.  Another road taken. Fred Steinberg drove a BMW, at a rather fast pace I might add, a...

NEW FRIENDSHIPS AND PLACES "You're my friend_____What a thing friendship is, world without end!"                                  Robert Browning (1812-1889)      When you're a foreigner, living in a strange place, it is not always so easy to be accepted into homes or friendships.  Such was the case, living in an apartment in Ixelles with some wonderful exceptions. Our neighbors below us were a warm and lovely couple with a great sense of humor.  Unfortunately, Josanne became ill with kidney disease during pregnancy and passed away.  I think it was our first and, fortunately, only Belgian funeral.      One day, I was outside and something in the trash bin outside the butcher shop next door caught my eye.  It was a group of discarded cordial glasses, made from attractive colored glass.  The woman who lived above the shop noticed me looking...

RETURN TO BELGIUM...AND THE NEXT SEVEN YEARS OF ADVENTURE "When a man fell into his anecdotage, it was a sign for him to retire from the world."                           Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield  1804-1881 How do I collate seven more years of experiences living and learning abroad without trying the patience of my readers?  I could easily proceed in a chronologic timeline...but, memory serves me poorly as to times and dates.  What I do remember are the unusual experiences I came upon, what I saw, who I met...the friendships, the challenges, and the very good times Suzanne and I had and the places in which we lived.  I think the best approach would be anecdotal rather than attempting to give my reader a detailed accounting of week after week and year after year.  The next few posts will be about the years Suzanne and I spent in Belgium and I hope you find it interesting. ...

"THE SUMMER____NO SWEETER WAS EVER; THE SUNSHINY WOODS ALL ATHRILL; THE GREYLING ALEAP IN THE RIVER, THE BIGHORN ASLEEP ON THE HILL...." Summers come and go, some more memorable than others.  Having settled into our hut in Vetsville on the edge of campus, the reality of our upcoming marriage within a fortnight was fast approaching and a sobering feeling of responsibility was often on my mind.  Was the future we had chosen for ourselves the right path?  This was one of those crossroads you come to when you think about roads not taken.  Almost 51 years later, my retrospect-scope leaves no doubt that our instincts were spot on.  That's the beauty of being able to look back on one's life and taking pleasure in it.  That being said, I must apologize to my reader that, alas, after a long and fruitless search throughout our home, I have lost all of our wedding photos save one which I will share with you. Vetsville...our first "home" Suzanne studi...

"Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe."                         Herbert George Wells (1866-1946)       How do I compress eight years of my life, living in Belgium, into a few posts without straining the attention of my readers?  My goal is to share experiences that you might find of interest without making my writing into an exercise of egocentricity.  I will attempt my best efforts here and break it down a bit into a few postings.      I have already written of my early days in Belgium but I want to share with you what a medical education was like and how it changed over the years I was there. The Free University of Brussels (L'Universite' Libre de Bruxelles)       The "Free" above, does not indicate the cost but, rather, the principle behind its founding.  Founded in 1834, the Faculty of Medicine, as part of the lar...