The Way It Was

Walter Cronkite was on our television quite a bit when I was a kid. My mom usually had the evening news on around dinner time and I certainly remember watching Mr. Cronkite, probably without really understanding his contribution to journalism until I was much older.

My aunt called me this evening and brought up a very special memory, that I had forgotten about and it has taken me much of the evening to recall it. My uncle Chet was a harbor policeman at the New Rochelle, NY marina for many years. I used to visit him and my aunt Suzy (I had an Aunt Suzy too!) many times during my childhood. For a few years, they lived on a houseboat in the marina and I remember sleeping on the boat and running up and down the docks, exploring.

When I was younger and I don't remember how old, I actually got to go sailing with Walter Cronkite and was served peanut butter sandwiches on board for lunch. I think we probably visited more than once. My mom might recall more details and unfortunately both my aunt and uncle are both passed away so there is no way to get more of the stories and how they met him.

May Mr. Cronkite have peace and love on his next journey.

My aunt told me more stories of how my great-grandfather and great-grandmother hobnobbed with other famous people as my great-grandfather worked for CBS. I really appreciated her phone call tonight.

Here's a photo of the last time I saw my uncle Chet at the New Rochelle marina before he died.

Well, I am in the final hours of my summer vacation as I prepare to return to work in the morning. We spent the early morning in the pool while my car was in the shop. Ian swam, using his new flotation suit, all over the pool. Following that, we looked at couches and loveseats-just looking and no buying.

Then, I spent two hours in the dentist's chair replacing a filling that had leaked with decay under the filling. For some reason, the older I have gotten, the more nervous I have gotten about visiting the dentist. However, he had to numb three different nerves and after three shots of novacaine, I could still feel the drill, so I think I ended up with a total of five shots of novacaine. I was apparently very tense, because my hands were clenched and I was almost crying a few times. He suggested that my next dental work included a pre-prescription of Valium or Vicodin to calm my nerves. I wish I had known that before today's adventure.

Once he finished that tooth, he found the beginning of an early cavity in between my teeth that didn't come up on x-ray, but he actually showed it to me in the mirror. So, more drilling and two hours later, I was done. Once the novocaine wore off, my jaw and forearms were aching from tension, not to mention the soreness from the dental work, so I holed up in the back bedroom and took a long nap with some Motrin. I still don't feel great, but it's done.

Back to school in July seems wrong on so many levels.