We are at the midpoint of our Gap Year. Debbie has advised me to look ahead to 2014 using “three words.” I think she wants them to be inspirational. She wants me to reflect on the year thus far. After seven months of Gap Year indulgences, I am ready to give it a try. I understand […]
My 92-year-old father continues to live alone in his apartment in Milwaukee. He has a devoted home care staff, an excellent on-call nursing staff and a team of doctors dealing with various chronic ailments. He soldiers on. Reading, his favorite entertainment, is limited by fatigue and macular changes. He wonders aloud at what people will […]
It’s been a while since I’ve blogged in touchy feely mode. Here is a peek into my mental state five months into my Gap Year. It is time to say goodbye to summer, not because the weather has turned (in fact, we’ve enjoyed a string of brilliantly sunny days) but because it could freeze at […]
The genesis of our gap year goes back 15 years. Sam and I were having lunch in a restaurant in Washington DC near the big, rambling house in which we raised our three children. It was a Saturday afternoon in April 1998. We were talking vaguely about what our future might look like and whether […]
A wonderful addition to our Gap Year arrived yesterday in the person of Josephine Catherine Harrington. Welcome Josie! She’s the daughter of our son Timothy and his wife Jessica and has a big brother named Cornelius whom you’ve heard about. We haven’t met Josie yet as she was born in Mountain View, CA where Tim moved […]
When we left the Coast of Maine a few days ago, the goal was to conflate a few disparate agenda items into a short trip. We needed to transport a few fragile items from our DC home back to Maine. The invitation to chair a board-level meeting at my hospital inspired us to revisit civilization, […]
If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world, and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day. – E. B. White This is […]
Sam has been writing a lot about measurable sign posts as our Gap Year progresses, week by week. In fact, he’s been writing a lot. Much more than I have. I’m going to chalk that up to the eagerness of a first-time blogger. I’ve been blogging for a decade and I’ve developed some bad habits. […]
Debbie: Is this really our first collaboration? What about our three children? Sam: That was different. Debbie: You’re right; it was. Sam: This is doing creative work together. Debbie: And you don’t mind me being your editor? It’s not that easy. Sam: You mean because of our different approach to quotation marks and periods and […]
I am indescribably proud of my two daughters who are both embarking on careers as M.D.’s. Why, you might ask, am I leaving the practice of medicine just as they are starting? It is an easy rationalization. My era is over. Yet the medical profession remains the career with the most promise of honor, achievement, […]
