Reunion

Between my second and third years of medical school, I had a long break in which to prepare for and take my first national medical licensing exam. In the time between the exam and beginning clinical rotations, I went to England for 2 weeks with a friend. We spent a week in London and then traveled through southern England for another week. We rented a camper van much like this one,and I drove. That was a nail biting adventure, driving a van on the left side of the road. I brushed against a parked car only once, smacking the mirror. And it was my first experience with roundabouts instead of traffic lights.
We saw Derek Jacobi in Much Ado at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. Twice. My friend had a bit of a crush on Derek Jacobi and we sent him a gift backstage. In response he wrote a nice thank you note.

Shortly after we got home, my friend moved to Chicago and I went back to school. We were not good long distance friends, last seeing each other when I visited her right before my graduation in 1984. And we rarely spoke by phone, the last time over 20 years ago.

In February, I heard Derek Jacobi interviewed on the radio about his coming to New York to do King Lear. I googled my friend's name, found her email address and sent her a message. Did she want to see Derek Jacobi again?

And that is just what we did last week. We met in NY, went to the play and spent two days walking around Manhattan catching up on nearly 27 years of history, children, divorce, marriage, work, travel. It was so much fun. PRM