Tag Archives: childcare

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day 13

0
Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, impediments, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

August 3, 2026- Hana has taken to kneeling and looking at the camera that is above her crib, when she wants someone to come to her. She will start babbling, in a sensible cadence, so I know that she is thinking about what to say. Her appetite has also increased, since her upper incisors have come in.

She comes to me, in the playpen, when she wants to practice standing. It is easier to grab onto Papa than onto the play pen lining, and besides, I will both hold her up and cheer her on. Although “I am Baby” is one of her latest phrases, she has a quite elevated agenda, for a seven-month-old.

HANA’S NOTE- I like it when Daddy calls, because then Papa lets me listen to the phone call. Any other time, the phone is off-limits.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-1986 This was another seismic year. Late on a January night, I took a call from South Korea. A Baha’i friend there, who knew that Penny was getting her Master’s Degree in Teaching English as a Second Language, called to ask whether she would be interested in taking his position: Visiting Professor of English, in the Department of English Language and Literature, at Jeju National University. Her half-conscious response was: “Sure, why not?”

Despite a lot of internal back and forth on the matter, she took the position and we began to uncouple from Tuba City. We made arrangements to move ourselves, and our household items, in August. We left Tuba in June and spent two months at NAU, in Flagstaff. I was taking courses towards a School Administrative Certificate, and had 12 credits left to earn. Six of those credits were covered that summer.

It was only two weeks into the summer session, when I got the phone call that my father had passed away. On a Sunday morning, his heart failed him, as he prepared for a routine visit to my youngest brother’s residential facility. I made flight arrangements, almost immediately, in rather a foggy state of mind, and called one of my professors, to explain the situation. He promised to tell my other professor. Penny was unable to join me, as her key exam was the following Saturday. We went to get her food for the week, as I would have the car to drive to Phoenix. Then, I was off. I got to Boston around 11 p.m., meeting my brother, Dave at Logan Airport. A short time later, I was holding my mother as tightly as I had when her mother had passed, thirty-six years earlier. It was a week of remembrance, giving and receiving solace and yard work. I enlisted the help of a few uncles and cousins for my mother, before I left to go back to Arizona.

We arrived in South Korea, in mid-August. A week was spent with American friends in Osan, outside of Seoul. Acclimating to Korean life in Metro Seoul was a bit like assimilating to American life, by living in New York or Los Angeles, It was a bit of a Boot Camp, though, and we were in fairly good shape, by the time we went down to Jeju. A few weeks later, we were in our Teacherage, Penny began her teaching work and I spent my days tutoring a few Korean students and getting to know the coffee houses of downtown Jeju. Penny and I also went to the southern island town of Seogwip’o. As it happened, the area had just been hit by a typhoon, and we saw lot of clean-up going on.

My own work as a Visiting Professor of English would start, early the following year.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day 12

0
Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, Hiking and Nature, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

August 2, 2026- After yesterday’s frenetic activity, I stayed close to home all day today. Hana was fairly quiet, as well, just being glad to be with her parents, sitting in the playpen and talking softly to her Mom, then taking an hour’s nap on her Daddy’s shoulder.

We did go to a couple of stores, buying some small household items and a few more groceries for the week’s meal planning. Both of Hana’s parents worked very hard today, to get all of her meals ready and preparing lunches that they can take with them, without a lot of last-minute preparation. They even baked chocolate chip cookies together, this afternoon, once we got back.

Papa did back-up work, but my day was not all that hard. Being an extra pair of hands, when Hana needed to be changed,and when she was done being bathed, holding out the towel and wrapping her in it, was enough. I cleaned up a fair number of items that were in boxes, and have enough space to set aside paintings that are lying about the common room, outside my bedroom.

HANA’S NOTE- I want to grab anything I see, these days. Today, I figured out how to unlatch the clasp on my bouncy chair. Daddy caught me, though, and refastened it.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-1985- My parents visited Penny and me, and we took them around Arizona-to Grand Canyon, Sedona, Prescott, Flagstaff, Montezuma Castle, the Hopi villages and Phoenix. We enjoyed a day or so in Tuba City as well. It would be the last time I saw Dad, so I’m glad they seemed to enjoy themselves. Penny’s parents also came out for a visit, in September. They were faithful, in making a yearly visit, while we were in Tuba City.

This was a year for gardening, as we had no out of state trips planned. We grew squash, tomatoes, peppers, melons and corn. It was a healing exercise for both of us. I also focused on Baha’i teaching activities, while Penny was in Flagstaff, working on her second Master’s Degree. When she felt lonely, I left the Baha’i activities and stayed with her at the University. Re-setting priorities was something on which I did not always excel. Things worked out, though,and we had a fairly good Fall and Winter.

Our life together was, however, about to head in a different direction, in the year to come.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day 11

0
Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, Hiking and Nature, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

August 1, 2026- Hana starts her active day with exercises: Stretches, push-ups, cross-body reaches and even a plank or two. She does this on her own, with our expressions of approval and pride following the session’s end. Another thing she likes to do on her own is wiping the play mat with a cloth. This is her way of cleaning her play space.

She has had a good day with her parents, joining them on a food shopping trip, being carried in a sling by her Daddy. Hana takes well to stores and restaurants now. A few months ago, she was more sensitive to crowds and noise. Now, she takes a lot in stride.

My granddaughter notices everything that I bring into the house, wanting to know what’s in the bag or box that I’m carrying. Today, I brought bagels from Saved by the Bagel, after I got a haircut nearby. She looks longingly at such items, but realizes they are still something not suited for a person with only four front teeth. I tell her that her day will come.

HANA’S NOTE- I want to keep my space clean, so I wipe the mat, just like Mommy and Papa do.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-1984 We lost a neighbour and a contemporary-Gordon Tong, at only 38, in the heat of the monsoons of August. I made three trips back and forth, from Tuba City to the Native American Baha’i Institute, where the Baha’i friends gathered for Gordon’s services. I had to get Penny, another Anglo friend and three Navajo elders.The funeral and burial were punctuated by the intense rain, almost fortuitously. I have rarely experienced such a dramatic send-off.

The year saw us on the road-and in the air, quite often. We drove up to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, spending ten days offering the Baha’i message to Lakota people, in Wanblee and Pine Ridge town, as well as various ethnic groups in Martin, a town in between Pine Ridge and Rosebud. On our second anniversary, Penny and I visited Wall, a tourist town northwest of Pine Ridge and drove around Badlands National Park. We pitched a tent in Badlands, only to get good and soaked that night. We were too tired to worry and were no worse for the wear, the next day.

We flew to Guyana, in July, spending three weeks in the small South American country, again teaching the Baha’i message to Black,South Asian and Wayana First Nations people. Penny was in her glory, teaching groups of small children and young ladies. I went around with a couple of local men, in each of the villages we stayed. As we passed a “parlour” (bar), near noon one day, a voice yelled out: “Hey, white man”, from inside the parlour. A one finger salute accompanied the “greeting”. My friend wanted to leave the area, but something told me to go inside. A table of four young men was the source of the message. When we approached, their demeanur changed, and they bade us sit. We chatted with the men for nearly an hour-not pushing the Baha’i message directly, but establishing a decidedly more congenial atmosphere than had initially greeted us. Similar experiences followed, in each of the next two villages.

When Penny and I returned to the U.S., we stayed a few days with a family near Houston, then drove north, visiting friends in Oklahoma, then going up to Macy, Nebraska, on the Omaha Reservation, where another sizable Indigenous Baha’i community was having a gathering. We went to one dignitary’s house, and it turned out that he was a cousin of one of my co-workers back in Tuba City.

1984 was not as harrowing as the novel of the same name. The challenges we did face only made us stronger as a couple.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day 10

0
Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, Hiking and Nature, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

July 31, 2026- We couldn’t go for our walk today, because two of us over the age of 30 forgot to take the stroller out of the trunk, when we got back from the doctor’s, on Wednesday. Hana occupied herself nicely, using me as a support in pulling herself up to a standing position, several times today. This is something she want to do on her own and she will get it accomplished. I would say that, at this rate, she will be standing, pretty easily, by the middle of August.

Her speech is also rapid fire and sounds fairly specific, though much of it is babbling, still. “Mama”, “Oma”, “Apa”, “Daddy”, “Dada”, “Mommy” and “Papa” are all spoken with regularity. “I want”, “I don’t want”, “Yeah” and “”I love” also are clearly pronounced.

HANA’S NOTE- I really, really, really want to walk. I like standing up. I can see so much more.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-1983 Penny and I settled into Tuba City, and into our work. We were regulars at a coffee house that was put on each week, at the Episcopal Church. We had people over for dinner, at least once a week and taught those who were interested, about the Baha’i Faith. One comment, from a video store operator, who was a member of Four Square Gospel, still sticks in my memory: “All religions follow the same God?” That is indeed our story, and we’re sticking to it.

We also traveled around the Southwest: Pipe Spring, Colorado City and Lake Havasu City (for Christmas), in Arizona; on our First Anniversary-Durango to Silverton, Colorado (on the Narrow Gauge Railroad); Chama,Rio Grande Gorge, Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico and several Baha’i-sponsored events, from Phoenix and Casa Grande to Jemez Springs and Crystal, New Mexico. In the Fall, my brother, Glenn, married his sweetheart, Barbie. So we made the trip back to Massachusetts, at the height of foliage season. It was sweet.

We did very well, as a couple, during this first year of wedlock.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day 9

0
Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, Historical, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Travel

July 30, 2026- As if to underscore her determination, Hana made a point of standing full on her feet, while holding onto her mother, this morning. She practiced standing, with my support, several times this afternoon. I let her stand up, while holding onto the border of the play pen. She is a few inches shy of being able to see over the top, but was able to hold onto it for about 8 seconds. She is leading this. I am providing encouragement and support. I’ve told her that only she knows her limits, and there is no rush. Most kids seem to wait until nine months, before standing with support. Hana will do things on her own timetable.

She napped a fair amount today, largely because she is constantly moving during the day and, depending on the extent to which her top incisors are still bothering her, sometimes tosses and turns a lot at night. She likes to play with company, so I am in the pen a lot. It is usually a cycle of wake up and wash/dress; morning feeding; parents saying goodbye, before going to work; her listening to my prayers (sometimes with her head bowed); us going out for a walk (she in the stroller); medication; story time; nap; lunch; story time; play time; nap, afternoon feeding; play time; welcome back, Mom & Dad; dinner; bath and sleep.

HANA’S NOTE- I want to help out, so I feed myself when Mom is giving me dinner, so she can rest.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-1982 The second set of sea changes came this year. In February, Penny and I got engaged. We were married on the Anniversary of D-Day, June 6. We went on Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, two weeks later-visiting Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the Galilee and the Baha’i holy places in Haifa, Akka and Bahji. It was an overwhelming nine days. We stopped in London, on the way back, and visited the Tomb of Shoghi Effendi, Baha’u;llah’s great-grandson, who guided the Faith for 36 years, after the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Baha. Before summer’s end, we also took a six-day road trip up to a Blackfeet First Nations Reserve, in southern Alberta, joining a Continental Indigenous Council Fire.

Penny and I settled in Tuba City, and she took a job teaching Special Needs students at the Primary school, across the street from the Intermediate School where I worked as a Counselor. We worked out a number of bumps and adjustments that came with sharing a small trailer, after each having lived alone for so many years. A friend in Flagstaff had told me that this would be a stormy marriage, but it would also be a good and strong one. How right he turned out to be.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day 8

2
Posted by on in children, Community, Education, Family, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

July 29, 2026- Hana, Aram and I visited one of her medical providers this afternoon. The visit brought good reports and five different medical center staff smilingly remarked at how much Hana has grown, since her last visit-three months ago. She has hit all the markers-babbling, sitting up on her own, crawling with her torso raised and high receptive vocabulary. They clearly see a happy, healthy little girl.

Once we were home, and it was play time again, Hana crawled all over her grandfather and at one point, after I helped her stand with both feet full on the floor, she took two steps, while I was supporting her. She looked at her father and said “Daddy”, not “dada”.

These are things for which I have given up most of what I did before she was born. These are the things for which I am keeping myself in good health, for which I want to live at least as long as my dear mother did. I see a great future ahead for this child of the Divine. That we are related is beside the point.

HANA’S NOTE- I usually don’t like going to the doctor’s office. Today felt nicer somehow.

YEAR IN REMEBRANCE-1981- By the time New Year’s had come around, my first housemate had left, and a second, an Iranian student, had been with me for three months. He, too, left, when the Iran-Iraq War broke out, as his home area was one of the battle zones. I had him call his family, that night, and he found they were all okay, with a relative in Teheran. Two months into the New Year, I had another pair of housemates, a couple-Chris and Carol. They .were still there when I left in August. I also got a phone call “from AT&T”, two months into the year-asking why I had called Iran. Although it was quite clear that the caller was from a Federal agency, and not the phone company, I was honest as to the reason for the call. I was then told that it was excused, this time, but I was never to do such a thing again. (Calling a nation with which the U.S. does not have diplomatic ties is a big no-no.)

This has broader significance. I had begun a romantic relationship with Penny, who I had met in Zuni, in December of last year. She was living and working in Keams Canyon, on the Hopi Reservation. I would go up there, one or two weekends a month, hitching-as I had no car. She would come down to Flagstaff, on other weekends. This was one huge change in my life.

The other was the Baha’i Faith. Penny had been a member of the Faith for about four years. She shared its tenets with me, and when I read the biography of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, I saw no reason why I , too, should not embrace the Teachings of Baha’ullah. I was put in contact with the Baha’is in Flagstaff, and declared my Faith, in February. The effects were both immediate (I gave up alcohol and gambling) and gradual ( Slowly, almost too slowly, I emerged from the fog of autism.)

I completed my Master’s program in August, by which time Penny had also completed her Master’s, in California, and had both found a job near San Diego and moved on from another relationship that had sprung up over the summer. My feelings for her didn’t go away, and by September, I was making monthly visits to see her in Julian, CA.

With an Arizona School counseling certificate, I was able to get a job at an Intermediate (Grades 4-6) School, in Tuba City, AZ, in the western part of the Navajo Nation, bordering the Hopi Nation. Thus, did a five-year residence, and a long-standing friendship, with these First Nations people come to be.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day7

0
Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Historical, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Striving, Travel

July 28, 2026- “What is boody boody doo?” , my granddaughter asked, this afternoon, when I warbled the nonsense phrase. This is the first time she has asked a coherent question, so I gave her a simple answer: “I’m just being silly.” Her slight smile let me off the hook. She did another first, shortly afterward: Planting her feet firmly on the floor, as she stood up, with my support. She wanted to look out the window-and of course touch the blinds. Then, she contented herself with opening and closing the gate to the playpen. It’s plastic and opens out, so there is no danger. She did this for about twenty minutes, then wanted to go back inside the pen and play.

I told her that she has eight special qualities: She is very smart; she is pretty; she has good health-including exercise drive and appetite;she is assertive; she has a great sense of humour; she is curious; she is adventuresome; she has a big heart. I see all these, regularly. Of course, she is an infant and does infantile things, but tantrums are rare, because her needs are anticipated and the three of us are good at picking up on her cues.

HANA’S NOTE- Papa can be very silly, but I love his silliness and how he dances me around the playpen.

YEAR IN REVIEW-1980 A bad day is often followed by a good one. A bad decade is likewise followed by a nice one-if the right lessons are learned. This year saw me leave Villa School, and enter a a Masters program at Northern Arizona University. The better part of this year saw me continue to bounce off proverbial walls. I still committed social faux pas, though in each case, I suffered immediate consequences and learned from them. I finished at the Villa with my head held high and went into summer classes at NAU, after a two-week break.

I found a town house, whose tenant needed a roommate. Although we were polar opposites, it worked, for about three months. Much of that time, I was on the road-going up to Oregon and back, with a fellow student. Another jaunt took me to Santa Fe, Taos and Los Alamos, with another student who was going one way. I caught a bus back, from Albuquerque. My housemate connected me with a Sky Y group that was going to Havasupai. I was hired on as a chaperone for a group of middle school kids. It was a good, strenuous hike and I got to see Havasupai Falls-a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

I worked at a part-time job on the NAU campus, devising assistance programs for handicapped students in three public school districts. It was a rather nebulous assignment and I don’t think I accomplished much, other than give inspirational talks to juniors and seniors at Grand Canyon High School, in Tusayan and at Williams High School.

In November, I felt stirrings that I had not felt since I last saw Katie, at UMass-Boston. The first part of th emonth, I went with a couple of other students to Durango, CO and visited a former student at Fort Lewis College. At the place where I stayed, a friendly young woman caught my interest, though she had her life and I had mine, It was, though, the first time in several years that I felt someone special was about to come into my life. On my birthday weekend, I went to San Diego and stayed in a hostel. I met a few other ladies there, and felt more relaxed around them than I ever had in Flagstaff. Something, it seemed, was about to happen.

That semester, I took an anthropology class, which entailed field trips to Hopi and Zuni. In early December, there is a house blessing ceremony at Zuni, called Shalako. Our class went there, and huddled in the cozy main house. There were several other visitors there, mostly anthropology buffs and a couple of professors from the University of New Mexico. One of these visitors was speaking Spanish with a New Jersey accent. A classmate remarked on the “paucity’ of her speech. I glanced at the visitor, and we locked eyes. She then came over and started talking to me, in English. Her New Jersey accent was not off-putting in the least. Neither was anything else about her. This was Penny, and my life was about to experience two sea changes.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 6, Day 30

0
Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

July 21, 2026- My little girl cried for nearly a half hour, this afternoon, before finally letting go and falling asleep on my shoulder. She sometimes is so tired that, like many a toddler, she fights sleep, while remaining miserable. She has a little way to go, before being a toddler, but her mindset is already there.

On either side of the meltdown, Hana was happy-with her lunch, with our little walk, with playtime and with the story I read. We went outside while it was still relatively mild (87 F). The temperature eventually hit 107. We didn’t have to face any of that.

This caps six months of life outside the womb. In that time span, Hana has mastered crawling with her body elevated, sitting up independently, eating pureed solid food, sipping water from a cup with a straw, feeding herself with a soft spoon and calling for her mother and father by title.

HANA’S NOTE- I was so tired this afternoon, I just cried and cried. Papa was patient and I slept in his arms for a long time. i heard him say it was one and a half hours-whatever those are.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-1973 This was the second year at North Shore Community College. I had to leave the Beverly house, in May, because the owner sold the house and we all dispersed. After looking around at different options, I went back to my parents’ house. Work was at United Parcel Service, sorting packages by destination, in the wee hours of the weekdays. I also worked security at Crane Beach, in Ipswich, MA during the summer and in the stockroom at our local Sears, Roebuck, during the fall. This was a year for taking in the Winter Carnival in Quebec City, running a college tour to Montreal and taking a road trip to Prince Edward Island, in early June.

I ended the year by preparing to transfer to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. I did credibly at NSCC, earning an Associate Degree in General Studies.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 6, Day 29

0
Posted by on in children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, Hiking and Nature, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal goals, Personal Values, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

July 20, 2026- I used an unconventional means of opening a container, this evening. Hana looked astounded, and let me know that she didn’t think it was a good idea. I told her that, although it worked this time, I wouldn’t do that again. She gave a wan smile. If you have ever been scolded, in infant-speak, you know what I mean.

She is speaking her mind, a lot more these days, and I find it fairly easy to decipher what she is saying. There are times when she will speak, from the back of her throat, in intelligible English words- “I want that”; “I don’t want it.”; “I love you”. As the teeth pop out, she will produce more words, certainly.

She also has her own set of expectations for our daily routine. She will not go for a nap, until she has had her walk in the stroller and taken her medication. She also prefers to take any afternoon nap with me, in the recliner. Her lunch meal has the “bite” order of vegetable, starch, meat, sip from the milk bottle, and repeat. This works just fine and she is a plate cleaner.

HANA’S NOTE- I told Papa, “That is not a good thing to do”, when I saw him opening a salad box, without using scissors. I have to watch him every minute that Daddy isn’t home!

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE- 1972 I was discharged from the Army on January 2, with the condition I attend college. I resumed my studies at North Shore Community College, in Beverly, MA. I lived at home the first semester. I worked at a warehouse called Central Sales, not far from the college, three evenings and Saturday mornings. As before, young women floated in and out of my life. I dated a sweet girl who was four years my junior, for a few months. She was more mature than I was, and it fell apart after about three months.

Summer brought a three-week jaunt across Canada, from Montreal to Edmonton and Calgary, then down through Montana, Idaho, Utah and across Colorado, the Midwest, West Virginia, Maryland and back up through Pennsylvania and back to Massachusetts. I met nice people along the way, and learned the limits of sleeping outside, in some of the national parks of Canada. Stops to visit people along the way ranged from turbulent (a pen pal in Colorado) to gratifying (my Viet Nam buddy , Bill, and his family, in Baltimore). I also first heard of the Baha’i Faith, outside Philadelphia. I was still comfortable as a Catholic, so didn’t investigate any further, but the name kept popping up, over the next several years.

Fall semester found me living with an eclectic group of people in Beverly. I stayed there with Al, Sandy and their housemates, into the following Spring. It was a pleasant arrangement and I learned the value of platonic friendships with women, other than my sister and cousins. Emotional maturity was coming along, slowly but surely.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 6, Day 26

0
Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Historical, Inner Struggles, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Striving, Travel

July 17,2026- Hana and I were asleep in the recliner, so deeply that I didn’t notice Aram going in and out to get the mail. My granddaughter has the same calming effect on me that I have on her.

We had a busy “half day”, in that her parents came home from work early, to take her to a medical appointment. We thus managed our walk, “wrestling” (her crawling on me and my lifting her up in the air, in vestibular motion) and lunch time into a shorter frame. There was also story time, centered on “Sleeping Beauty”. Maleficent is portrayed in this brief version only as the “Old Fairy”. She ends up getting turned into a frog. Hana thought that was funny.

She is always overjoyed when one of us comes back to the house, after having been away for a brief errand. Having the family all together is a big deal to my granddaughter. She is delighted to just sit in the high chair at each meal, even at breakfast, which for her is a liquid feeding, still. She has complete meals at lunch and dinner.

HANA’S NOTE- I went to have my blood checked-AGAIN. This time, the nurse only stuck me once with the needle. So, that was not as bad.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE- 1969 This was a year of firsts: My first time on an airplane; my first trip outside New England; my first extended time away from family; my first time really hallenging myself.

I left Star Market in January and went to work at General Electric’s Riverworks Plant, in Lynn, MA. My fahter, and several relatives and neighbours worked there, as well. Dad got me in. I worked in the rotometer calibration section. The senior technician told me my work was substandard, but he never bothered complaining to the higher=ups. Nor did he offer specific criticism that might have helped me improve.

It was a placeholder job, anyway, as I had asked the Army Reserve Unit to let me enlist in the Regular Army. My plan was to enlist for 3 years, then apply for an early release, so as to return to college. My enlistment date was set for June 16, and the recruiter determined I’d be best suited for the Army Postal Corps. I left G.E. on May 1, and focused somewhat on physical training.

Basic Training was at Fort Jackson, SC. I started off as a mewling klutz, but slowly and surely got with the program. I scraped by in marksmanship, missed Combat Fire-but never was made to re-take it, though I asked to do so, and excelled in the Physical Training Test. I did fairly well in the G-3 (General Knowledge) Exam, which was oral. On weekends, we had free time, and I went with a couple of guys who were from Columbia, to their favourite hangouts. I was the sole White guy with four African-Americans, but none of the Whites we encountered gave us any trouble over it.

Woodstock happened while I was doing things like learning how to properly handle grenades and re-sight my M-16. We were brought into a room and allowed to watch the launch of the first Apollo rocket to the Moon. Training was canceled that day. I made enough of an improvement that the cadre sent me on a 3-day pass to Myrtle Beach, on Labor Day weekeend.. I saw that there was little difference between it and the beach towns of New England, though the water was warmer. I stayed in a two-bed shack for $1 a night, and had the place to myself.

Fort Ben Harrison and the postal training were footnotes. I didn’t really bond with anyone in the unit, but went into Indianapolis by myself a few times on weekends. I never did get to the racetrack, though. Many of the guys went to VietNam, after AIT. I was sent to Fort Myer, Va. I was assigned to straighten out a mail operation, as my predecessor had ended up in Fort Leavenworth, for various postal crimes. That made a distinct impression on me. I got the job done quickly, to the satisfaction of the Inspector General. That November, a high school friend was killed in Viet Nam, and I began to re-assess what my responsibilities were. I fasted that Thanksgiving, and decided to give Fort Myer a year, after which I would re-assess my situation. Seeing Washington, D.C. on weekends was great fun, though, and I began to bond with civilians in the Georgetown neighbourhood, whose views on life were similar to my own.

Thus did the ’60s come to an end.