The Picnic

Kansas City was as beautiful in the spring as it was in the fall when all of the leaves turned gorgeous colors and winter with all the snow. One interesting fact about Kansas City that a lot of people do not realize is that there are actually two cities in two states separated by a street named Sate Line Road.  Living on one side of the road makes you a resident of Kansas, the other side puts you in Missouri.

I can remember how pleased I was when Dennis got transferred to Kansas City as there was never a happier person than I to be leaving Dallas, Texas.  It is difficult to explain why with all of the normal horrors of moving, the month living in a motel, the seemingly endless string of disappointments and conflicts why I was always so happy to be there.  Maybe it was gaining a little maturity, the great neighborhood and the friends I made or the surprise opportunities that seemed to come my way.  Maybe Barney was also a reason.

I arrived at the fountain at the Country Club Plaza before he did.  It had been almost a month since our last lunch date and although we had talked on the phone while he was travelling I did miss seeing him.  I heard the familiar "Hey" behind me and he had pulled up alongside the curb in his car and told me to hop in that we were going on a picnic. As we drove to a park I asked him how the seminars and the book were doing. Everything went well but he thought it was too much all at one time.  He was tired and really glad to be home.

When we arrived at the park Barney opened the trunk and to my surprise there was a real picnic basket, a checked table cloth and a blanket.  I didn't know there was a Deli in town that specialized in doing picnic lunches.  What a great idea!  All you had to do was to order them, pick everything up and return it when you were done. Over lunch we laughed and joked about silly things while I was wondering about his comment on the phone pertaining to serious sounding stuff we needed to discuss. The picnic thing was no doubt an opportunity to really talk as we had done in college.

He finally got around to asking me why I had not said anything about my medical school applications and that he knew it was past the time for me to have heard something. Actually I had avoided the subject with everyone as I felt really stupid for even thinking I could be accepted.  I made all sorts of excuses to myself about the application showing I had gone to four colleges, had three different majors, married, two small children and a lot older than other applicants. When he asked me it was like the dam burst and I poured out all the feeling of rejection, all the excuses I made to myself, even Dennis's reaction and a lot of tears.

He took me in his arms and said how sorry he was but that he didn't know me to give up on anything except him twelve years ago.  Also that I should have told him first about the letters before I told anyone else since most people don't get into medical or law school on their first try.
Did the letters say anything about making an appointment with the admissions office to see why you were not accepted?  I said I didn't remember as I could not get past the first paragraph. That got a laugh and the suggestion that I look at them again and call to make an appointment and see what their reasoning was.  Then I needed to give him the application so he could see if we could make it sound better.

While I was basking in the thought that somebody cared and was willing to help me in what I wanted to do Barney came out with the question of "How about lunch at my house next Thursday?".  That was a surprise and my quick answer was that Mother was arriving for a visit, hopefully a short one, on Wednesday. So would Tuesday be okay?  There were a lot of reasons I should have said no, like what about his wife, Lauren, but I said okay.  Perhaps I had a "deer in the headlights" look as he started laughing and said he needed some interior design advice on his house.  Lauren was deep into law books and really had no desire to do anything to the house. We decided 10:30 on Tuesday would be good after I dropped Wally at the church for the day.

Needless to say the next four days were busy ones.  The boys needed haircuts and I needed running shoes before Mother showed up.  Then there was the matter of immaculizing (new word) the house before she arrived and checked all the woodwork for dust. Maybe this trip she would not spend her first day there cleaning the house, making sure all the laundry was done or planning all the meals for however many days she was staying all the while making me feel like a terrible person.  Oh, that meant a trip to the grocery store for healthy food. 

The letters from both medical schools did make reference to calling for an appointment. As much as I dreaded doing it I knew I had to by Tuesday. The thought of Tuesday itself was a little scary in that it is one
thing to decorate your own house but a whole different thing to know what other people like or want.  

 

Fun and Friendship

At some point when the snow was very deep on the ground Woody, the family cat we had for several years, decided to sneak out the door never to be seen again.  I spent a lot of time wondering if we would find his body laying in the yard after the snow melted.  Thankfully as the snow melted there was no body found but the boys were ready for a new cat.
Late winter is not a real easy time to locate a new kitten but after calling numerous pet stores I found some at a pet store fifty miles away.  Dennis was never a "cat person" but crying children convinced him to make the trip and we returned home with a tiny yellow kitten whose little legs looked like McDonald's french fries. The boys named him French Fry and he would become one of our legendary cats in the years to come.

Wes was doing okay in school but homework and studying would never be his thing.  He was happiest racing up and down the street on his bike with a wing on the back just like a race car or playing soccer or tormenting his brother. Wally wanted to run with the big boys but at four and a half they didn't want him around most of the time.  He spent most of his time hanging out with me just being cute and sweet.  Ninette blended into the family pretty well, made friends that lived miles away so that at fifteen she needed lots of rides to see friends and go to school activities. I knew this whole situation was hard on her so I tried not to be upset when I found my clothes laying in a mess on the floor of her room.

                                                 Ninette

One day three tickets arrived in the mail for the Billy Joel Laser Light concert at Kemper Arena. Of course I was excited.  Who wouldn't want to go see Billy Joel?  But where did they come from?  There was no return address, no note, just three tickets. Dennis did not know anything about them.  I don't think he was even impressed and was going to be out of town the night of the concert.  None of the neighbors confessed even though they usually heard his albums blaring when they came over to my house.  But there was no way I was going to look a gift horse in the mouth so the night of the concert Wally went to stay with Karen across the street and Wes, Ninette and I headed off to the arena.

Now it seems strange that I would take a nine and a fifteen year old to a concert but there was no way I was going to get out of the house without them.  The seats were pretty high up but excellent as the stage was in the center of the packed arena.  Wes, of course, had to sit in the aisle seat, then Ninette and me in the third seat in.  Just as the lights went out we all had to stand to let a guy come by to sit in the empty seat next to me.  More interested in what was going on than someone arriving late to the concert it took a few minutes to realize the guy was Barney.  That was a heart stopping moment and certainly answered the question as to where the tickets came from.

Barney sat there looking like the cat that ate the canary with that smile of his.  The concert was unbelievable with Billy Joel jumping on the piano at times and singing all his great songs while the laser lights flashed around the arena.  Even at age thirty-three I have to admit to a little jumping up and down and maybe even a little screaming.  The kids were so enthralled by the concert that they did not notice or think it strange that Barney and I had a few brief conversations or when he bumped my elbow during "Just The Way You Are" and said that that was me.  It was definitely a night to remember for the kids and I.  Whispering thank you to Barney as we headed out of the arena didn't seem like enough but all he said was that he wouldn't have wanted to miss it.

The medical school test scores finally came.  As usual with the mail I had opened what was mine and left the ones on the dining room table that I thought Dennis would like to see.  He had never asked about my test or the scores but I watched when he picked them up, glanced at them and put them back down.  He did not say a word as to whether they were good or not or what I was going to do now.  Yes, it hurt my feelings but I was pretty used to that.  

I noticed on the sheet with  the scores that I had ranked in the top 25% of those who had taken the test at the same time.  My scores were not bad in Chemistry and Biology but Physics did not look too good.  Made me wonder if many people took the test that did not get the same degree I did or were simply dummies.  Oh well, the applications were typed and ready to go to the two schools I had the scores sent to.  I also had all the letters ready to send to past professors for recommendations.  Once I dropped them in the mail it was time to sit and wait again.

I have to say that I really had a group of fun neighbors.  We took care of each other's children, pet sat if someone was going out of town and just had fun together.  Most of us were in the New Neighbors group and participated in some of the activities but the most fun were the monthly luncheons.  Once a month somewhere around a hundred women got all dressed up for the luncheon at a country club.  There was always a great lunch and a program but the most fun was the social hour before lunch. A few Bloody Marys and I got very social. The hard part was going home and cooking dinner.

Karen across the street was a gourmet cook and had several rows of shelves in her basement that were six feet tall and and the length of the basement.  It was like walking into a grocery store with boxes, bags and cans of anything you could need.  Need a cake mix to do cupcakes for a school party that afternoon - it was there.  Come home slightly tipsy from a luncheon and need something quick to fix for dinner - off to Karen's basement. When I went to the grocery store each week I had two lists, one of things I needed and one of things I had raided from Karen's basement.  To top everything off, Karen made me a much better cook since I hung out at her house a lot and began to try new things.

I hardly ever stayed up for the 10:00 news.  In fact I hardly ever had time to watch TV except for Sesame Street and the Electric Company.  But one Tuesday night I heard a report that a popular Kansas City restaurant had burned down.  The restaurant was the favorite Italian restaurant where I went most Thursdays.  I called Barney the next morning and he had heard the news also.  It was really sad as I was worried about cute Louie in his tux and all the other nice people who worked there.  Barney said he had already heard they were going to rebuild and would I meet him at my favorite fountain on Thursday as he had several options as to what to do.  I agreed and the call ended before I began to think how strange the word "options" sounded.  Why didn't he say I know several other places or restaurants we could go?

As I was getting ready to go meet Barney my neighbor who lived behind me called.  Frances and her husband had grown children and I knew she worked for the Johnson County Health Department. Frances was at work but wanted to know if she could come by and talk to me after work that afternoon. I told her that would be fine but did not ask what it was about.

Why would a neighbor I hardly know want to talk to me?  Options?  What did that mean?  Maybe I need to ask a few more questions instead of whipping up worries.