"Refuse to be ill. Never tell people you are ill; never own it to yourself." (Bulwer-Lytton)

.....I'm still struggling to get this bronchitis out of my system before it turns into pneumonia...I've been using the nebulizer every day, but it doesn't appear to be doing much good.  I went to the VA Medical Center on Monday for some dental work, but the dentist (a Columbia grad) said it would not be a very good idea to do the work planned while I was suffering from this type of illness--so he sent me home.  I do have a 2:30 appointment with my doctor this afternoon, so tune in tomorrow and I will be able to give you an update.  Yesterday, I also went to my eye doctor because I could not drive my car with the distance adjustment that his colleague made for me.  He had ordered a prism for the left lens.  However it just made my distance vision much worse, and it was impossible to drive because I was seeing double and the white lines separating the lanes in the road seemed to be crossing each other so that I was not able to tell whether or not I was driving in the correct lane.  Well, we were there for 2 1/2 hours before it was discovered that the prism had been put into the lens backwards!!.  So much for medical training ( the ophthalmologist was a Cornell grad).

.....Jumping now from health problems (I'm 89 and up)-- to show biz talk, I've been doing a lot of thinking about the show I have been conjuring up--that is a reprisal or reincarnation, or reproduction or remembrance--or whatever you want to call it of a WWII USO concert with musical numbers of the 30s to 50s.  I plan on calling the show, "43!" (Yes, with the quotation marks and exclamation point.  Yeah, yeah, I know--the movie "42" about Jackie Robinson, but his show is titled after his uniform shirt number, and my intended production is titled after a year in WWII.  So, you see, there is a difference.  During the show, the audience here will be considered a conglomeration of members of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Coast Guard, and the Marine Corps.  With that idea in mind, the audience will perforce suddenly all become actors in the show's cast.  Naturally, they will participate in a few of the show's "patriotic" songs.  There will be a Master of Ceremonies, and to break up one vocalist after another, we will have jokes and a couple of skits.  There will also be WWII numbers of duets and trios.  The set will have a USO theme.  None of this will happen until the Board of Directors hears about and approves it.  That will most likely occur in August. 

.....and another former student--now probably 70ish.

.....Seriously, though, reading your blog makes me miss you very much -- and it brings tears to my eyes. I'm once again reminded of what a significant influence you have been in my life. I suspect you'll never really know the extent of that influence, because, like most meaningful things in life, it's not about a moment, a word, a specific gesture or occasion, but the sum total of your "being" and my "being" connecting over time. 
.....Doc, you thought I was someone special when no one else did -- least of all me. You saw potential in me that I didn't believe I had. And because of your belief in me, combined with the example of excellence you set, I stored away somewhere in my psyche all those moments, those conversations, those looks over your glasses that made me feel you could almost see inside me. And time and time again over my life -- sometimes consciously, sometimes not -- I have revived them, wondered at them, reveled in them. It is, after all, the amalgamation of the people and events in our lives that shape who we become. Yes, as you say, it is always a choice we make. But those of us with rich resources tend to make better choices. Thank you for being one of the rich resources in my life.

With all my love,   FS