As I was combing through pictures for Ben, I came across this picture of two Queens' College alums at a John Kerry fundraiser in Madison in 2003. I blogged previously about seeing 'Beautiful: The Carole King Story' musical in NYC in 2015 and the musical connection through my singing her 'You've got a friend' at our wedding back in 1972. And, here is the picture of Teri with the songwriter herself.
I just returned from a work-and-play trip to the West Coast. Instead of the past go-attend meeting-return routine, I try to add extra days to connect and meander and that is just what I did. I began in LA to attend the national APAMSA conference at UCLA's brand new Geffen Center. As usual I gave two talks (Pitfalls for Asian American medical students: Educational profiling [as passive] and Bone marrow transplant: An intimate story). Interestingly, the students still honor an old fart and labeled my name tag with 'Founder'. As usual, I spoke with and informally advised many, many medical students, still feeling somewhat relevant and useful. Took a medical student leader to dinner, met her parents. And as unplanned, learned of on the spot and attended a world class symposium on the hot area of the microbiome (intestinal bacteria) and as planned wandered off to the mega LACMA to view the Chinese, Japanese and contemporary art on display. Then flew to up to SF to stay in Palo Alto with a former national APAMSA president and spouse, Sean and Joy, whom I first met in 1995. From the airport they whisked me off to La Traviata at the SF Opera. and over the next three days we spent many evening hours free ranging from their research endeavors, their faculty development, diversity and gender in academic medicine, work-life balance to raising children - an incredibly stimulating reunion. Giving hope for the future of academic medicine, both are MD-PhD NIH-funded physician-scientists, yet the nicest and grounded of individuals, as well as a couple, and as the parents of two teenage daughters. My main purpose was to discuss writing a paper with Sean on Asian American medical students. Always multitasking, I gave my standard APAMSA talk to the local chapter and then made my rounds of Stanford faculty and administrators in pediatric GI, neurosciences, Dean for Faculty Diversity, head of Asian Liver Center (eradication of Hep B/liver cancer) and Asian American history (although I couldn't connect with an author on how to design a career) - and came away brimming with new ideas. After, I wandered by the SF Asian Art Museum, met with Li, the curator of Chinese Art and my father's former graduate student, and focused on Shang dynasty Chinese bronzes (related to my auditing) and SE Asian art (related to my upcoming trip). My last was a day and a half stop in Walnut Creek to visit with nonagenerian Ruth, a very close friend of my parents. Had lunch with nephew Peter. The fires in Sonoma and Napa sullied the Bay air and affected/destroyed houses for three friends.
I visited Ruth because she remains one of the last known links to my mother as a child. Ruth was my mother's classmate and best friend in Pui Do girls school in Guangzhou. From her, I learned not only a great deal about my mother's youthful character but also of Ruth's early life as well. Both Ruth (father and mother by age 8) and my mother lost parents at a young age and the mutual losses bonded them. My mother's mother died when she was only six from tuberculosis contracted from a patient. I know that loss affected her sense of security throughout her life. My maternal grandmother was apparently one of the first female graduates of Lingnam Medical School. Both my mother and Ruth boarded and ate together nearly every day. Both were energetic and rebellious adolescents and created havoc, some having to do with the kitchen staff. It is just fun to imagine these two tiny strong-willed Chinese women, 5' at the most, stirring up big 'trouble' at school. My mother was apparently an accomplished pianist and singer which I caught glimpses of occasionally. Although she apparently aspired to become a physician like her mother, apparently falling in love with my father diverted her from that path. Ruth invited us to her nephew Nick's upscale, wine-walled, 'modernized' Chinese restaurant with farm-to-table and Kobe ingredients. Ruth remains remarkably sharp, ambulatory, healthy, indomitable and at peace. Someone to aspire to be like as I age. I'm so happy I got to spend time with her (and my mother).
A reconnecting, life-affirming, mind-expanding and art-appreciating trip!
To close what began as a remembrance of my lapdogtop, during the transition from PC to Apple I discovered an email from Google that noted that the blog was one of the top 50 leukemia blogs. Whoa. What? Wow. I no longer think of this as a Teri's leukemia story but a paean to Teri's mindful life, my gradual restoration and return to life, and miscellaneous observations on healthy living. And I don't really know any longer who's reading it. But perhaps what began with disease and demise now has a healthy life of its own ...
I visited Ruth because she remains one of the last known links to my mother as a child. Ruth was my mother's classmate and best friend in Pui Do girls school in Guangzhou. From her, I learned not only a great deal about my mother's youthful character but also of Ruth's early life as well. Both Ruth (father and mother by age 8) and my mother lost parents at a young age and the mutual losses bonded them. My mother's mother died when she was only six from tuberculosis contracted from a patient. I know that loss affected her sense of security throughout her life. My maternal grandmother was apparently one of the first female graduates of Lingnam Medical School. Both my mother and Ruth boarded and ate together nearly every day. Both were energetic and rebellious adolescents and created havoc, some having to do with the kitchen staff. It is just fun to imagine these two tiny strong-willed Chinese women, 5' at the most, stirring up big 'trouble' at school. My mother was apparently an accomplished pianist and singer which I caught glimpses of occasionally. Although she apparently aspired to become a physician like her mother, apparently falling in love with my father diverted her from that path. Ruth invited us to her nephew Nick's upscale, wine-walled, 'modernized' Chinese restaurant with farm-to-table and Kobe ingredients. Ruth remains remarkably sharp, ambulatory, healthy, indomitable and at peace. Someone to aspire to be like as I age. I'm so happy I got to spend time with her (and my mother).
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| Ruth standing by her daughter's art work |
A reconnecting, life-affirming, mind-expanding and art-appreciating trip!
To close what began as a remembrance of my lapdogtop, during the transition from PC to Apple I discovered an email from Google that noted that the blog was one of the top 50 leukemia blogs. Whoa. What? Wow. I no longer think of this as a Teri's leukemia story but a paean to Teri's mindful life, my gradual restoration and return to life, and miscellaneous observations on healthy living. And I don't really know any longer who's reading it. But perhaps what began with disease and demise now has a healthy life of its own ...
