Deb had oral surgery last Thursday, lasting about 45 minutes. As expected, when the tooth was extracted it left a gaping hole directly into her sinus. So that had to be filled. She is still swollen, and black and blue. It looks like she lost a boxing match to Muhammad Ali. Improvement is slow but sure. Still mostly liquids and very soft food. She is getting through it.
On the same day as Deb's surgery I received news that a very dear former girlfriend had been dead since August 2014. I don't know exactly why, but the news devastated me. I found out from her niece, the first person related to Patti I have been able to contact in over 50 years. I always hoped we could get together again for a chat and some catching up, and had searched for Patti or her brother and two sisters on-line for many years. I am now in contact with her oldest sister, and hoping to learn a bit more about her death at 60 years. The news released a floodgate of memories that continue to wash over me, which had been locked away for so many years. I have began writing some of them down, and my next few blogs will be devoted to Patti. The last time I saw Patti was in the summer of 1977, when Deb and I stopped off for a visit at her family camp on Lake Penage. I spoke with her briefly on the phone about a year later, when Deb and I visited Cleveland (Patti was from Ohio). And that was it. We got very busy with university and teaching. We lost contact, as Deb and I didn't even go to the lake much anymore, travelling instead to Europe or the American Southwest on our vacations. I finally found Joaane on FB, but I spotted a photo of her brother's grown and married daughter, a nearly dead-ringer for Patti, and contacted her. She was very sweet to me, and put me in touch with her dad, Patti's brother. He never responded, but Joanne did. More to come soon.
Mapman Mike
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