Don and Karen Simons gave me San Diego for my birthday. Well, not the entire city. Just the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, the Hotel Del Coronado, the Old Globe Theatre, Montgomery Field, a helicopter ride and a plate of Philippine noodles. It was way too much loot to fit in my carry-on bag for the flight home to Sacramento. I left everything as it was except for the noodles, which I ate.
Also included was a
breakfast with Mr. and Mrs. Edward R. Murphy, Jr. Mr. Murphy is a former Navy lieutenant. He was also the education officer of the
Subic Bay Naval Station in the Philippines in 1962 where he confined Seaman
Browne to the base until Seaman Browne
passed a high school GED test, the tyrant.
Mr. Murphy later
served as the executive officer of the USS
Pueblo, the Navy spy ship captured by North Korea in international waters
in 1968. The 82 crewmen were imprisoned
under medieval conditions for 11 months of physical and mental torture. He co-authored a book about the experience:
http://www.amazon.com/Second-Command-Uncensored-Account-Capture/dp/0030850754
Mr, Murphy – he will
always be Mr. Murphy to me. Navy training takes lasting grip -- is also the recipient of the Navy Marine Corps
medal for lifesaving.
Don and Karen Simons volunteer
as tuxedo-clad ushers at the Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park, a replica of its
London namesake where the son of a glove maker named William Shakespeare staged
his plays. The Simons thought it would
be a socko idea if I volunteered to usher too.
So packed my second
hand tuxedo for the occasion, a performance of Buyer And Cellar. The premise is an out of work actor hired
to perform as a dress shop clerk in a fake mall in Barbra Streisand’s basement
where the estimable Ms. Streisand is the only customer and very picky one at
that. Her character is never seen. Actor and author Jonathan Tollins is the only
presence on the theatre-in-the-round stage for an hour and forty minutes of very
funny monologue. He was given a well
earned standing ovation.
So, my thanks to Don
and Karen Simons, Karen’s mother, Wanda, and the family’s feisty ball of white
fluff, a pooch named Cody, for a week of the best birthday ever.
-o-
Comments?
Thanks
so much for keeping me in the loop of your words. Whether they are old memories
and fresh ones, I've found keeping memories written down to reread on occasion
is a bit of reliving it that goes down well. Life isn't as much a plan for
tomorrow as it is a whole bunch of memories of yesterday re-experienced at a
certain age.
I
hope you remember your great birthday present and that your fish lives plenty
long to give you untold numbers of stares through the deep aquarium address he
now shares with you. --- ZoZo
It’s already cut my toxic TV
habit by 80%.
_____
Happy
belated birthday. By the way, have you
named your fish? (Not that it'll come when you call it, but it seems it's the
thing to do.) - Beaty
I have.
Since it’s a Betta fighting fish, I’ve named him Rip Finley, Fish
Ninja.
_____
Good job, as usual. – Bob
_____
Wonderful as always! --
Juli
_____
Sounds like a great birthday! Glad you had fun! -- Shannon
_____
You lucky dog!! -- Wht
