I love spending a weekend each year with each of my sons.
I have done that with Daniel and Brad once a year for at least the last decade.
Daniel picked L.A. this year then, he changed his mind. He wanted to go to Atlanta. He had Tech Stars business in Atlanta on Monday and Tuesday and his 25th Emory homecoming on Saturday.
He figured he would kill three birds with one stone. I would love mingling with young people (47 year olds) at the 25th college reunion.
The plan was to meet up on Friday afternoon at 2:30 pm at the Atlanta airport.
I would go to Atlanta Thursday morning and spend twenty-four hours with one of my best friends Dr. Albert Padwa, Professor Emeritus at Emory University, now an accomplished artist/sculptor.
Al and I have been buddies since the second grade at P.S.70 in the Bronx. We both went to Wade Jr. High School and Taft High School in the Bronx.
We competed with each other in a very friendly way. We were considered the smartest kids in the class.
We both went to Columbia College and graduated in the Class of 59. I went on to Medical School. Al got a PhD in Chemistry. He did that instead of medicine because he could not tolerate the sight of blood.
He became a famous free radical organic chemist at Emory University.
We have been pals for 73 years.
When Daniel went to Emory as an undergraduate Al and his wife looked after him.
Al and I spent a great day together going over old times and some old adventures.
First, we went to Emory’s chemistry building to see his mobiles. He has mobiles all over the new chemistry building. They are truly excellent.
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Next, we went to his house to see his mobiles and stabiles. I fell in love with two of them. I think he will give me one of his stabiles for my backyard.
I showed Brad my pictures of Al’s work. He wants to buy one.
On Friday morning we went to Piedmont Park. Piedmont Park is one of the great botanical gardens in the world.
The next morning we went to the Atlanta version of the New York City’s High Line, the Atlanta Beltline Eastside Trail.
Large Cities are finally figuring out how to make themselves livable.
On the trail we had lunch in an old reconditioned factory. I had a delicious shrimp roll.
Then, we then drove out to the airport to pick up Daniel. Al wanted to hang out with Daniel in the afternoon. We had a great time finding an ice cream parlor in Al’s neighborhood the Virginia Highlands.
As soon as we walked into the lobby we saw a bunch of Daniel’s fraternity brothers. I knew most of them. We shot the bull for a while (2 hours) before we ever got to our room.
We went downstairs immediately because we were now late in getting to Kenny and Lisa Feld’s house.
Kenny is my brother Charlie Feld’s son. Daniel is one year older than Kenny. I love Kenny and Lisa.
Brad is one year older than Jon, Charlie’s other son.
The boys spent many weekends together when Cecelia and I left town for a date weekend. Charlie and his wife took care of my kids. Each couple watched the other couple’s kids for date weekends.
We have a wonderful evening with them and their two kids, Sidney and Dillon.
Kenny then drove us to some bar near Virginia Highlands for the first official homecoming event. Daniel’s class had a bigger representation than most of the other reunion years.
The opening event was much different than my 25th Reunion at Columbia. I had fun at the Emory Reunion opening night. The noise was deafening.
We went back to the hotel via Uber. The Uber driver convinced me to download Waze. It is an excellent GPS. Waze is one hundred times better than the GPS in both my Lexus’. Lexus needs to learn something from them.
At ten am Saturday morning we were on the way to the World of Coca Cola. I have been to Atlanta several times but have never been to the World of Coca-Cola.
My visits have always been for business. I never made time to visit Atlanta for fun. Daniel and I had a great time tasting all the Coca Cola products produced all over the world. Frankly, some of them were awful. However, I am sure they fit the taste of that individual country.
The most precious time was just talking to each other about life goals and our philosophy of life.
Next stop was a Mexican fast food place in downtown Atlanta. It was better than I had expected.
After lunch we walked across the park to the National Collegiate Hall of Fame. I did not know it existed. I enjoyed that very much.
I picked out the Columbia College helmet. We always had the worst team in the Ivy League. The museum had all the helmets of all the collegiate leagues and biographies of all the college stars in the Hall of Fame.
It was over 90 degrees when we went to the Emory Reunion Lawn Party. I was so hot I lasted only about an hour. The instructions I got to get back to the hotel were terrible. After a two-hour hike I stopped a woman to ask how far the hotel was from here. We got into a nice conversation as she started walking me to the hotel.
We passed her car on the way to the hotel. She said “why don’t I drive you to the hotel?”
I guess she saw how overheated I was and how horrible I looked. I accepted with great relief.
In the hotel room I took a cold shower. I remembered my days at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas when someone would come into the ER with heat stroke and we put them in an ice cube filled bathtub.
I feel much better in ten minutes.
Daniel came home just before the next event. He needed a cold shower too.
Down to the lobby and off to Turner Field for the next event. It is all about reuniting will friends, some of whom you haven’t seen in 25 years.
The barbeque was good but not as good as Sonny Bryan’s or Dickey’s in Dallas.
The conversations were wonderful. Daniel’s classmates (men and women) were as dressed up as you can be in 2016.
I had a great time that weekend. In the hotel room Daniel and I talked for a while. I was off to the airport relatively early on Sunday having once again spending a wonderful weekend with one of my sons.
The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone.
All Rights Reserved © 2006 – 2016 “Repairing The Healthcare System” Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP,MACE
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