After five years, Estrella convinces the doctor that it is time for him to bring in a junior doctor. She handles all of the applications and decides which ones the doctor should interview. Estrella’s standards are high, and the doctor interviews only two applicants. Dr. Emily Mayfield makes a good first impression in her crisply ironed khaki pants and buttoned-down plaid shirt. So much better than the young male applicant in his Bermuda shorts and flip-flops. Estrella also notices how Dr. Emily is chatting with the clients in the waiting room. It is with a sly smile that she announces Dr. Mayfield. The interview goes exceedingly well. Doc asks the young woman how she would handle the case of the incontinent German Shepard Dog. He asks her opinion on the care of other patients as well.
Emily has practiced at the clinic for twelve years when Doc announces he is ready to retire. For her 40th birthday, Emily’s gift to herself is going into debt to buy Doc’s practice and the clinic. Doc’s gift to Emily is a forty-foot sign announcing Mayfield Veterinary Clinic, and matching letterhead. Estrella has already filed the appropriate paperwork with the licensing agencies.
Emily would not dream of continuing the clinic without Estrella — she can’t imagine what chaos would prevail. Estrella is open and sharing and unabashedly caring. Estrella and Emily are colleagues and friends. The de Ramón family considers Emily one of their own, and Emily’s brothers “adopt” the de Ramón family en toto.
Recently Dr. M has spoken of getting another intern. Perhaps this time the intern will want to stay in Clearwater and become Dr. M’s junior doctor. But, to her horror, before Estrella can contact the vet school for recommendations, The Right Reverend Stuart MacGregor asks a very special favor from Dr. M. Now Estrella must use all of her talents to keep the peace within her ‘work’ family, and Estrella knows that family can always make it work.
(This completes Estrella de Ramón.)
(Stay tuned for A. Michael Kendrick, DVM, AKA the junior doctor.)
Going to the Dogs
▼
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Estrella part 5: Getting Real
Estrella’s sister Josie shows up in Tampa in the middle of the week, calls Estrella at work and invites her to lunch. When they meet, Josie is shocked at the difference in her sister: the “straight” Estrella is someone Josie has never seen before, and she is scared at the sight. Josie tells Estrella that she has just gotten a new job in Tampa and will be in town during the weekend; can she stay with Estrella? In her beloved little home, Estrella is herself, cooking for Josie, joking, padding about barefoot with her hair a black nimbus about her face. Josie keeps Estrella talking—talking during dinner, talking over coffee, talking over dessert, talking over popcorn, talking over bagels and slightly hardened cream cheese, talking over scrambled eggs, talking over ice cream, talking the sun up. By dawn, the sisters have seen each other, and themselves, clearly and honestly. Estrella is back. They fall into bed, wake at noon and go get a Sunday paper. They have to go out anyway for breakfast, because there is no food left in the refrigerator. Sunday afternoon is spent writing letters of introduction to various employment ads in the paper—for Estrella.
On Monday morning Estrella invites Lawrence James the man with two first names (she will never be able to think of him any other way) to lunch and breaks off their engagement. On Wednesday she receives a phone call from a veterinarian in Clearwater: His wife has always managed his office, but now wants to quit working at the office and spend time with the grandchildren; would Estrella come talk with him about working as his receptionist/bookkeeper/office manager? On Friday Estrella hands in her resignation at the insurance company. On Saturday she rents her beloved house to Josie. On Sunday she takes a spacious apartment (Okay, as spacious as Clearwater has to offer) and buys new dishes. Two weeks later the family helps Estrella move out and Josie move in.
This is her third job, and third time is a charm. Estrella is amazing. She organizes the office, the clients, and the doctor. She charms the vendors (sometimes out of their socks—but never at work); she calms the anxious clients and is particularly good with people who have lost their animal companions. And the doctor is just one more brother to take care of. The doctor’s wife adores her. Thanks to Estrella, the doctor’s wife finally has a life of her own, just in time to be a happy grandma. Estrella is the heart of the clinic. And there she remains, flirting, organizing, soothing, nurturing, and advising.
(continued)
On Monday morning Estrella invites Lawrence James the man with two first names (she will never be able to think of him any other way) to lunch and breaks off their engagement. On Wednesday she receives a phone call from a veterinarian in Clearwater: His wife has always managed his office, but now wants to quit working at the office and spend time with the grandchildren; would Estrella come talk with him about working as his receptionist/bookkeeper/office manager? On Friday Estrella hands in her resignation at the insurance company. On Saturday she rents her beloved house to Josie. On Sunday she takes a spacious apartment (Okay, as spacious as Clearwater has to offer) and buys new dishes. Two weeks later the family helps Estrella move out and Josie move in.
This is her third job, and third time is a charm. Estrella is amazing. She organizes the office, the clients, and the doctor. She charms the vendors (sometimes out of their socks—but never at work); she calms the anxious clients and is particularly good with people who have lost their animal companions. And the doctor is just one more brother to take care of. The doctor’s wife adores her. Thanks to Estrella, the doctor’s wife finally has a life of her own, just in time to be a happy grandma. Estrella is the heart of the clinic. And there she remains, flirting, organizing, soothing, nurturing, and advising.
(continued)
Friday, March 26, 2010
Estrella de Ramon, part 4: Straightlaced
A sponsor, an insurance company, hires Estrella away from the radio station with big bucks and the promise of excitement. She gets the big bucks. Her savings grow until they produce a down payment for a little house close to her parents, but not too close. She gets up in the morning and smiles as she makes coffee in her own little kitchen. She laughs as she feeds her cats in the kitchen and birds at the bird feeder. She sings as she showers in her tiny bathroom. She scowls as she stuffs her body into pantyhose and suits. She checks hems and hairlines for neatness. Her hair is gathered behind her where it will not interfere with her deskwork.
She says good-bye to her beloved house and goes to work in the building where offices are either austere or overly opulent. She shares space with seven other women, all working at desks with adding machines and ledger sheets. She meets men: insurance executives. They are either austere or overly slick.
And she meets Lawrence. Lawrence James, the man with two first names. Estrella tries to call him Larry, once. He drives a Cadillac. He takes her to fine restaurants, concerts, and to places where he can pass out his business card to all the “right” people, people with new money. He takes her home to meet his mother and proposes marriage when Mother obviously approves of his choice. Estrella says yes, but she does not take him home to meet her mother because there is a crucifix over the dining room table. She tells herself it is religion, but she does not want to admit to herself that there is no one in her family that Lawrence James will give his business card to, not one person. Lawrence is Episcopalian, and he will not convert to Catholicism.
(continued)
She says good-bye to her beloved house and goes to work in the building where offices are either austere or overly opulent. She shares space with seven other women, all working at desks with adding machines and ledger sheets. She meets men: insurance executives. They are either austere or overly slick.
And she meets Lawrence. Lawrence James, the man with two first names. Estrella tries to call him Larry, once. He drives a Cadillac. He takes her to fine restaurants, concerts, and to places where he can pass out his business card to all the “right” people, people with new money. He takes her home to meet his mother and proposes marriage when Mother obviously approves of his choice. Estrella says yes, but she does not take him home to meet her mother because there is a crucifix over the dining room table. She tells herself it is religion, but she does not want to admit to herself that there is no one in her family that Lawrence James will give his business card to, not one person. Lawrence is Episcopalian, and he will not convert to Catholicism.
(continued)
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Estrella de Ramon, part 3: Into the World
Estrella is a good student, not straight A, but a strong B. Her best subjects are literature, history, and geography. She hates PE; it gets her sweaty and messes up her hair. She is never the last one chosen for a team. She is good enough at math and hates biology. She takes the business courses and goes on to business school after high school graduation. She now laughs about being the only girl who dated both the captain of the football team, the president of the Key club, and the president of the National Honor Society. She went steady with two of the three—for a little while at the same time.
She has her first hangover when she goes to sign up for her courses at the School of Business. The thought of typing is too painful so she opts for bookkeeping, for which she discovers, to her surprise, she has a real talent. Meanwhile, she longs for a place of her own. Estrella is 18, and she wants to be on her own.
Her dedication to school has never been so complete. She learns everything. This is the year that will open all the doors for her. She graduates first in her class with great recommendations from her teachers and three inviting offers of employment.
She takes the job with the radio station. She is pert, pretty, and very good at her job. She is the visual front for the invisible talent in the ‘back room’. She is the face to the public for the station. She talks with sponsors; they adore her. She discovers how much of herself responds to the “creatives” and their off-center ways. She loves getting up and going to work each day; it is always an adventure in lunacy. Still she longs for a place of her own, but her savings are not growing rapidly enough to suit the young and eager Estrella.
(continued)
She has her first hangover when she goes to sign up for her courses at the School of Business. The thought of typing is too painful so she opts for bookkeeping, for which she discovers, to her surprise, she has a real talent. Meanwhile, she longs for a place of her own. Estrella is 18, and she wants to be on her own.
Her dedication to school has never been so complete. She learns everything. This is the year that will open all the doors for her. She graduates first in her class with great recommendations from her teachers and three inviting offers of employment.
She takes the job with the radio station. She is pert, pretty, and very good at her job. She is the visual front for the invisible talent in the ‘back room’. She is the face to the public for the station. She talks with sponsors; they adore her. She discovers how much of herself responds to the “creatives” and their off-center ways. She loves getting up and going to work each day; it is always an adventure in lunacy. Still she longs for a place of her own, but her savings are not growing rapidly enough to suit the young and eager Estrella.
(continued)
Monday, March 22, 2010
Estrella, part 2: Family Undivided
Estrella’s sister, Josefina, aka Josie, becomes an anti-war protestor after Roberto’s death. Maria, the oldest daughter, tries to persuade Josie not to do this. Maria says that Josie’s protesting dishonors their father and their oldest brother and the memory of their dead brother Roberto. Josie’s response is that war is the killer, not protesters. It is war that is wrong, and her hope is that by protesting maybe she and her peers can prevent other needless deaths.
The family is split apart. Mamá and Papá are having enough trouble dealing with their grief over Roberto’s death, and now this war over the war is tearing their family to tatters. They declare the subject of the war taboo inside the walls of their home. Standing firmly together, the parents announce that they will not try to dictate how any of their children will think or how they will live their lives, (as long as they are good and faithful Catholics, of course) but within the walls of the de Ramón house there will be no war. Period. The declaration is accepted by all. The antagonists are outwardly resentful of this declaration of peace, but inwardly relieved.
Estrella sees the anguish in her mother as Mamacita observes the walls of silence developing at the dinner table and across and between her older children in all their interactions.
Estrella cannot stand the silences. She becomes an expert at making them talk -- talk of daily encounters and ideas and hopes and feelings -- without rancor. She has enabled them to remove the sting of talk, and they replace that with their love for each other as family. Estrella has found the gift of her life, the gift of opening communication. Not so many years later, Estrella finds that it is also the sexiest of gifts. All the boys will want to “talk” with Estrella.
(continued)
The family is split apart. Mamá and Papá are having enough trouble dealing with their grief over Roberto’s death, and now this war over the war is tearing their family to tatters. They declare the subject of the war taboo inside the walls of their home. Standing firmly together, the parents announce that they will not try to dictate how any of their children will think or how they will live their lives, (as long as they are good and faithful Catholics, of course) but within the walls of the de Ramón house there will be no war. Period. The declaration is accepted by all. The antagonists are outwardly resentful of this declaration of peace, but inwardly relieved.
Estrella sees the anguish in her mother as Mamacita observes the walls of silence developing at the dinner table and across and between her older children in all their interactions.
Estrella cannot stand the silences. She becomes an expert at making them talk -- talk of daily encounters and ideas and hopes and feelings -- without rancor. She has enabled them to remove the sting of talk, and they replace that with their love for each other as family. Estrella has found the gift of her life, the gift of opening communication. Not so many years later, Estrella finds that it is also the sexiest of gifts. All the boys will want to “talk” with Estrella.
(continued)
Friday, March 19, 2010
Estrella Angelita Maria de Ramón, part 1
Estrella Angelita Maria de Ramón is a native of Florida. She’s Catholic by upbringing, and hedonist by practice. She is the ninth of thirteen children, and the only one, she will tell you, who got a really good name.
At 55, she is a cross between Lady Gaga and Beyoncé: flamboyant and terribly sexy.
Her father worked in pest control. Her mother worked as the alterations tailor for an upscale department store in Tampa. The de Ramon children have all finished high school, a major accomplishment for a Spanish American family of their generation. Two of the boys and three of the girls finished college as well. Of the thirteen children, there is no thirteenth child. Mama has a baker’s dozen. Of the twins, she refers to them as girl-twelve and boy-twelve. The boy-twelve, the one they owed to the church: he’s a priest. He’s not a particularly happy priest, what with the de Ramon hormones and all, but he’s still a priest.
Estrella’s oldest brother, Ramon, goes to Viet Nam when Estrella is four years old. He serves his two-year term and comes home again to finish his tour of duty in Tampa. Ramon comes home wounded in spirit and deeply bitter. He goes to work with his father in pest control. Ramon the elder thinks of pest control as a service to help brothers and sisters live better. Ramon the younger thinks of pest control as committing never-ending murder—-the only job he thinks he is fit to do.
When brother Roberto signs up to go to Viet Nam, the family is proud to send him off to fight for their country. But Roberto doesn’t come home. He’s killed by a mortar blast at the ripe old age of eighteen. He had been in Viet Nam for two weeks. Ramon’s bitterness reaches a new depth, and his parents fear for his life as well. His mother goes to six o’clock mass every day for four months. Finally, one day Ramon tells his mother that Roberto was the lucky one. His mother slaps him across the face, telling him, “You are the lucky one. You can see the sunrise. You can eat with your brothers and sisters. You feel the rain on your face. Your brother feels nothing. Nothing. Not even the bitterness you hold on to so hard.” His mother’s action shocks Ramon into deciding to keep on and to feel the rain.
(continued)
At 55, she is a cross between Lady Gaga and Beyoncé: flamboyant and terribly sexy.
Her father worked in pest control. Her mother worked as the alterations tailor for an upscale department store in Tampa. The de Ramon children have all finished high school, a major accomplishment for a Spanish American family of their generation. Two of the boys and three of the girls finished college as well. Of the thirteen children, there is no thirteenth child. Mama has a baker’s dozen. Of the twins, she refers to them as girl-twelve and boy-twelve. The boy-twelve, the one they owed to the church: he’s a priest. He’s not a particularly happy priest, what with the de Ramon hormones and all, but he’s still a priest.
Estrella’s oldest brother, Ramon, goes to Viet Nam when Estrella is four years old. He serves his two-year term and comes home again to finish his tour of duty in Tampa. Ramon comes home wounded in spirit and deeply bitter. He goes to work with his father in pest control. Ramon the elder thinks of pest control as a service to help brothers and sisters live better. Ramon the younger thinks of pest control as committing never-ending murder—-the only job he thinks he is fit to do.
When brother Roberto signs up to go to Viet Nam, the family is proud to send him off to fight for their country. But Roberto doesn’t come home. He’s killed by a mortar blast at the ripe old age of eighteen. He had been in Viet Nam for two weeks. Ramon’s bitterness reaches a new depth, and his parents fear for his life as well. His mother goes to six o’clock mass every day for four months. Finally, one day Ramon tells his mother that Roberto was the lucky one. His mother slaps him across the face, telling him, “You are the lucky one. You can see the sunrise. You can eat with your brothers and sisters. You feel the rain on your face. Your brother feels nothing. Nothing. Not even the bitterness you hold on to so hard.” His mother’s action shocks Ramon into deciding to keep on and to feel the rain.
(continued)
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Emily Mayfield, part 15: Life
A year after their first date and five months before their wedding, Steve dies from an aneurysm. There were no symptoms, no warnings, no history. Just death, instant and painless …. for Steve.
Emily moves through the funeral and her finals in complete shock. She misses the spring altogether. But summer’s heat breaks the shock and releases her rage. For the second time in her life she has loved with all her heart, and for the second time in her life that love has been grabbed away from her by God. Her anger is debilitating. Suzanna, worried for her daughter’s life and sanity, calls Stuart.
Stuart journeys to Hawthorne to spend a long and difficult week with the Mayfields. When Emily sees him for the first time wearing a priest’s collar, she goes ballistic. Suzanna uses all her maternal power to force Emily to stay in the room and talk with Stuart. They spend six days and six nights talking, Emily railing against God, Stuart listening and accepting and guiding her through her pain to some resolution. By the end of the week, Stuart’s gift to Emily is helping her commit to keep on living, and to make a life for herself. The week’s gift to Stuart is a realization of the limits of his power, the knowledge that he cannot fix life for people. He can listen and console, but he can’t fix it. Not for anyone, and not ever. That knowledge is the foundation of his worth as a priest/counselor.
Emily finishes vet school and accepts a job as assistant vet in a private practice in Clearwater, Florida. She stays there as assistant for six years. When the senior vet retires, Emily buys out his practice and renames the facility Mayfield Veterinarian Hospital.
Emily honors the lessons she learned from Stuart and Steve: the delights of the body, the deliciousness of life on this planet, the value of play. She has men friends and women friends. The men she dates and beds and keeps at a comfortable distance. The women she feeds (Suzanna’s heritage) and shares hopes and jokes with. But her life is shared with her four-legged companions. They are her partners.
At 52, Emily is ready for a bit more of the playing and deliciousness. That’s why she advertised for an assistant. But Stuart has a nephew who just graduated from vet school at Tufts University in Medford, MA, (Boston). And for reasons that Stuart won’t go into, the nephew needs a job. Really. Stuart has never asked Emily for a favor, but he asks for one now: hire his nephew for one year (four seasons). Emily agrees reluctantly, but with her own proviso: if the nephew in any way endangers a patient or compromises Emily’s practice, Emily can and will dismiss him on the spot.
Deal.
(This completes Emily Mayfield, DVM.)
(Stay tuned for Mayfield Animal Hospital’s peerless receptionist, Estrella Angelita Maria de Ramon)
Emily moves through the funeral and her finals in complete shock. She misses the spring altogether. But summer’s heat breaks the shock and releases her rage. For the second time in her life she has loved with all her heart, and for the second time in her life that love has been grabbed away from her by God. Her anger is debilitating. Suzanna, worried for her daughter’s life and sanity, calls Stuart.
Stuart journeys to Hawthorne to spend a long and difficult week with the Mayfields. When Emily sees him for the first time wearing a priest’s collar, she goes ballistic. Suzanna uses all her maternal power to force Emily to stay in the room and talk with Stuart. They spend six days and six nights talking, Emily railing against God, Stuart listening and accepting and guiding her through her pain to some resolution. By the end of the week, Stuart’s gift to Emily is helping her commit to keep on living, and to make a life for herself. The week’s gift to Stuart is a realization of the limits of his power, the knowledge that he cannot fix life for people. He can listen and console, but he can’t fix it. Not for anyone, and not ever. That knowledge is the foundation of his worth as a priest/counselor.
Emily finishes vet school and accepts a job as assistant vet in a private practice in Clearwater, Florida. She stays there as assistant for six years. When the senior vet retires, Emily buys out his practice and renames the facility Mayfield Veterinarian Hospital.
Emily honors the lessons she learned from Stuart and Steve: the delights of the body, the deliciousness of life on this planet, the value of play. She has men friends and women friends. The men she dates and beds and keeps at a comfortable distance. The women she feeds (Suzanna’s heritage) and shares hopes and jokes with. But her life is shared with her four-legged companions. They are her partners.
At 52, Emily is ready for a bit more of the playing and deliciousness. That’s why she advertised for an assistant. But Stuart has a nephew who just graduated from vet school at Tufts University in Medford, MA, (Boston). And for reasons that Stuart won’t go into, the nephew needs a job. Really. Stuart has never asked Emily for a favor, but he asks for one now: hire his nephew for one year (four seasons). Emily agrees reluctantly, but with her own proviso: if the nephew in any way endangers a patient or compromises Emily’s practice, Emily can and will dismiss him on the spot.
Deal.
(This completes Emily Mayfield, DVM.)
(Stay tuned for Mayfield Animal Hospital’s peerless receptionist, Estrella Angelita Maria de Ramon)
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Emily Mayfield, part 14: School of Veterinary Medicine
Vet school is demanding, all-encompassing, Emily’s entire world. She immerses herself utterly in her studies, to the exclusion of everything else in her life. The only exception is Sunday afternoons at 4:00, when her parents call her on the phone. Emily is most surprised by her own sexual frustration, which she didn’t think to expect. It just makes her work harder.
Spring comes, and with it Emily’s emotions become more than she can deny. She realizes how much she misses Stuart, especially as her best friend and confidant. At her wit’s end, Emily calls Stuart’s aunt to find out how to get in touch with Stuart. The aunt, surprised at this call, is reluctant because she doesn’t want Stuart tempted by Emily. In the first direct, woman-to-woman conversation that these two have ever had, Emily is able to reveal herself to the aunt as a genuine and caring person who really does wish the best for Stuart and wants to reconnect with him as friends. Still reluctant but feeling a bit better about it, and secretly knowing the agony that Stuart has suffered at the loss of HIS best friend, the aunt gives Emily Stuart’s address. Emily sends a card. Stuart phones her. The reconnection is painful and sweet and awful. Finally Emily can control her anger no longer.
“If God was calling you,” she asks furiously, “why did you lead me on all those years?”
His answer is kind but firm. “God was calling me, Emily, but I couldn’t hear Him through you.”
They make peace at last, albeit an uneasy peace, and agree to talk once a season. It’s spring. Things start anew.
Emily accepts a date with a senior vet student at the school. She dates regularly during her second year at vet school. By the spring of that year, her conversation with Stuart is easier for both of them. He hears about diseases he’ll never have to deal with, and she hears about religious devotion she’ll never have, period.
In Emily’s third year of vet school she meets a large-animal specialist in practice in Roswell, Georgia, who comes to the vet school regularly. They begin to date. Steven Lloyd Morrow is enchanted by Emily’s intensity and brilliance; Emily is drawn to Steve’s quiet confidence. He respects Emily, and at the same time is charmed by her youthfulness. Emily and Steve are good for each other. They work hard and play sweetly.
Emily tries to interest Steve in opera, but it doesn’t take. He compensates by being great in bed. That does take. Steve has a grand wide-open exuberance for life. He lightens Emily, opens her to life, and expands her heart and her vision of what life can be.
(continued)
Spring comes, and with it Emily’s emotions become more than she can deny. She realizes how much she misses Stuart, especially as her best friend and confidant. At her wit’s end, Emily calls Stuart’s aunt to find out how to get in touch with Stuart. The aunt, surprised at this call, is reluctant because she doesn’t want Stuart tempted by Emily. In the first direct, woman-to-woman conversation that these two have ever had, Emily is able to reveal herself to the aunt as a genuine and caring person who really does wish the best for Stuart and wants to reconnect with him as friends. Still reluctant but feeling a bit better about it, and secretly knowing the agony that Stuart has suffered at the loss of HIS best friend, the aunt gives Emily Stuart’s address. Emily sends a card. Stuart phones her. The reconnection is painful and sweet and awful. Finally Emily can control her anger no longer.
“If God was calling you,” she asks furiously, “why did you lead me on all those years?”
His answer is kind but firm. “God was calling me, Emily, but I couldn’t hear Him through you.”
They make peace at last, albeit an uneasy peace, and agree to talk once a season. It’s spring. Things start anew.
Emily accepts a date with a senior vet student at the school. She dates regularly during her second year at vet school. By the spring of that year, her conversation with Stuart is easier for both of them. He hears about diseases he’ll never have to deal with, and she hears about religious devotion she’ll never have, period.
In Emily’s third year of vet school she meets a large-animal specialist in practice in Roswell, Georgia, who comes to the vet school regularly. They begin to date. Steven Lloyd Morrow is enchanted by Emily’s intensity and brilliance; Emily is drawn to Steve’s quiet confidence. He respects Emily, and at the same time is charmed by her youthfulness. Emily and Steve are good for each other. They work hard and play sweetly.
Emily tries to interest Steve in opera, but it doesn’t take. He compensates by being great in bed. That does take. Steve has a grand wide-open exuberance for life. He lightens Emily, opens her to life, and expands her heart and her vision of what life can be.
(continued)
Friday, March 12, 2010
Emily Mayfield, part 13: Stuart McGregor
Emily and Stuart know that they will spend the rest of their lives together. When not in class or labs, they are together -- at his apartment, at her house, at the library, at the student union cafeteria.
Everyone who knows Stuart and Emily knows that they will be married after graduation. Suzanna and Robert find the whole affair perfectly understandable and fine, though Suzanna, practically, realizes that Emily and Stuart will have some challenges that other couples won’t face. She also knows that they can handle it.
Stuart was raised by an aunt who is and always has been a fervent Roman Catholic. And so, of course, is Stuart. He and Emily don’t have religious discussions because Emily isn’t interested enough to make a discussion of it. They don’t see each other for breakfast on Sundays because Stuart is at mass and Emily is studying.
The beginning of their senior year, Stuart changes his major from history to philosophy. When Emily questions him about it, he says that history wasn’t giving him what he needed. This answer spawns dis-ease in Emily as she realizes that Stuart has some need that she can’t fill, either. Through the year, Stuart becomes more self-absorbed as he is engrossed in inner dialogue. There are long silences between Emily and Stuart, until that night when he says, “Emily, we have to talk.”
Stuart tells Emily that he feels called by God to become a priest. He assures her that he will always love her, but his love for Emily has to come second. He has applied for acceptance to a Catholic seminary. When Emily leaves for vet school, Stuart will leave for seminary. He will enter the priesthood.
Emily is grief-stricken and furious. She blames herself, she blames Stuart’s aunt, and goes back to blaming herself again. Finally, she blames Stuart, big time, mostly for not being honest with her. Though Stuart tries to explain that he could tell her what he didn’t know himself, she does not understand. Why didn’t he share with her the realizations and wonderings along the way? He cannot make her understand that his process was more of an agonized discomfort until the moment of epiphany.
Emily breaks all contact with Stuart. Graduation is a bittersweet event. Emily leaves home the week after graduation, to take a job as a groomer’s assistant in Atlanta in preparation for her entrance in vet school at the University of Georgia.
(continued)
Everyone who knows Stuart and Emily knows that they will be married after graduation. Suzanna and Robert find the whole affair perfectly understandable and fine, though Suzanna, practically, realizes that Emily and Stuart will have some challenges that other couples won’t face. She also knows that they can handle it.
Stuart was raised by an aunt who is and always has been a fervent Roman Catholic. And so, of course, is Stuart. He and Emily don’t have religious discussions because Emily isn’t interested enough to make a discussion of it. They don’t see each other for breakfast on Sundays because Stuart is at mass and Emily is studying.
The beginning of their senior year, Stuart changes his major from history to philosophy. When Emily questions him about it, he says that history wasn’t giving him what he needed. This answer spawns dis-ease in Emily as she realizes that Stuart has some need that she can’t fill, either. Through the year, Stuart becomes more self-absorbed as he is engrossed in inner dialogue. There are long silences between Emily and Stuart, until that night when he says, “Emily, we have to talk.”
Stuart tells Emily that he feels called by God to become a priest. He assures her that he will always love her, but his love for Emily has to come second. He has applied for acceptance to a Catholic seminary. When Emily leaves for vet school, Stuart will leave for seminary. He will enter the priesthood.
Emily is grief-stricken and furious. She blames herself, she blames Stuart’s aunt, and goes back to blaming herself again. Finally, she blames Stuart, big time, mostly for not being honest with her. Though Stuart tries to explain that he could tell her what he didn’t know himself, she does not understand. Why didn’t he share with her the realizations and wonderings along the way? He cannot make her understand that his process was more of an agonized discomfort until the moment of epiphany.
Emily breaks all contact with Stuart. Graduation is a bittersweet event. Emily leaves home the week after graduation, to take a job as a groomer’s assistant in Atlanta in preparation for her entrance in vet school at the University of Georgia.
(continued)
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Emily Mayfield, part 12: College
In high school, Emily excels in math and falls in love with biology. For chemistry and physics, she often goes to her biology teacher for outside help and resources. Emily’s high school career is defined by studiousness and taking care of “her” baby. She feels that her life is full and satisfying, and has little need for social recognition. She’s an aide for the biology teacher, who writes a glowing letter of recommendation that is the deciding factor in Emily’s acceptance into vet school.
Like the rest of the Mayfield children, Emily attends the University of Florida in Gainesville. Her baccalaureate degree is pre-vet, major in biology, and minor in zoology. In Gainesville, Emily meets Stuart L. McGregor in freshman English composition class. Stuart excels in English, loves language and literature and poetry and music—all subjects Emily has never found particularly interesting when compared with the way bodies and life work. Stuart’s perspective is that language and poetry and music ARE life.
Emily and Stuart run into each other at the library, doing beginning research on a paper for their English class. Recognizing each other from class, they strike up a conversation. Emily allows as how she is having the devil of a time in this composition class, and Stuart allows as how he loves this stuff. They become a study group of two during their freshman year of English composition. The next year Emily tutors Stuart through biology. Stuart “needs” lots of biological tutoring, as it turns out. Emily and Stuart are an accepted duo on campus, Emily in her long braids and Stuart in his Afro.
Stuart lives above a garage in a little apartment that smells of gasoline. Emily can visit there to study, and Stuart often comes to the Mayfield house, where he visits long hours with Robert and Suzanna, when not studying with Emily. Stuart understands Jerry’s middle name and Suzanna appreciates that. At his apartment, Stuart plays opera records while he and Emily study. Emily doesn’t mind, but also doesn’t understand why Stuart is so crazy about opera.
In exchange for the biology lessons, Stuart teaches Emily about opera. He is a good teacher and she is an apt pupil. She develops a passion for opera that is close to that of Stuart’s. Forever, opera and Stuart are one in Emily’s mind.
A touring opera is brought to the University. Stuart invites Emily to come with him, with the warning that she has to dress up for opera. The performance is “Carmen.” This night, Emily’s life blossoms with a fierceness that is explosive. In the passion of the opera she loses her practical self and meets her own heart’s romance. She realizes that she is madly in love with Stuart. Her imagination fills in everything that is implied on the stage and transfers it straight to her own life. The night continues for Stuart and Emily long after the curtain has fallen onstage. In a single night, Emily finds her imagination, her passion, and the love of her life.
(continued)
Like the rest of the Mayfield children, Emily attends the University of Florida in Gainesville. Her baccalaureate degree is pre-vet, major in biology, and minor in zoology. In Gainesville, Emily meets Stuart L. McGregor in freshman English composition class. Stuart excels in English, loves language and literature and poetry and music—all subjects Emily has never found particularly interesting when compared with the way bodies and life work. Stuart’s perspective is that language and poetry and music ARE life.
Emily and Stuart run into each other at the library, doing beginning research on a paper for their English class. Recognizing each other from class, they strike up a conversation. Emily allows as how she is having the devil of a time in this composition class, and Stuart allows as how he loves this stuff. They become a study group of two during their freshman year of English composition. The next year Emily tutors Stuart through biology. Stuart “needs” lots of biological tutoring, as it turns out. Emily and Stuart are an accepted duo on campus, Emily in her long braids and Stuart in his Afro.
Stuart lives above a garage in a little apartment that smells of gasoline. Emily can visit there to study, and Stuart often comes to the Mayfield house, where he visits long hours with Robert and Suzanna, when not studying with Emily. Stuart understands Jerry’s middle name and Suzanna appreciates that. At his apartment, Stuart plays opera records while he and Emily study. Emily doesn’t mind, but also doesn’t understand why Stuart is so crazy about opera.
In exchange for the biology lessons, Stuart teaches Emily about opera. He is a good teacher and she is an apt pupil. She develops a passion for opera that is close to that of Stuart’s. Forever, opera and Stuart are one in Emily’s mind.
A touring opera is brought to the University. Stuart invites Emily to come with him, with the warning that she has to dress up for opera. The performance is “Carmen.” This night, Emily’s life blossoms with a fierceness that is explosive. In the passion of the opera she loses her practical self and meets her own heart’s romance. She realizes that she is madly in love with Stuart. Her imagination fills in everything that is implied on the stage and transfers it straight to her own life. The night continues for Stuart and Emily long after the curtain has fallen onstage. In a single night, Emily finds her imagination, her passion, and the love of her life.
(continued)
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Emily Mayfield, part 11: Home Works
Suzanna reads one of Robert’s economics journals as she is nursing Jerry, and becomes interested in an article on the new entrepreneurship. This strikes all sorts of chords in Suzanna, as she wants to stay home with the baby, but knows that they are going to need increased income for George’s law school tuition. Suzanna, ever the practical person, reasons that she can run a catering business from her own home, which would allow her to work in her own kitchen, cart stuff in the family station wagon, and make additional income. But she will need equipment for cooking, transporting and serving. She researches the basic requirements for licensing.
Suzanna starts by cooking for small parties. She delivers the food and disappears. From her profits, she puts 50% into a bank account for George’s law school and 50% back into the business. First she buys bigger cooking vessels, then serving pieces such as chafing dishes and platters, then linens, and finally dishes. Suzanna’s enterprise grows into a full-scale catering business. Emily enters high school watching her mother begin this new business. When Emily gets home from school, she becomes primary caregiver for Jerry, so her mother can cook safely. Thus begins Emily’s deep bond with Jerry, and her feeling of having raised a son of her own.
The family economic system is structured so that Robert finances the household and Suzanna finances advanced education. It works. The school account grows, puts George through law school, continues to grow, puts Alex through medical school, continues to grow, puts Emily through veterinarian school, and finally puts Jerry through Julliard. Every child in the family knows to the depth of her/his heart that they owe their advanced education to their mother’s cooking. Every child also works full time during summers and has part time jobs during the school semesters to help pay their expenses as they go to school. By the time each graduates from her/his specialty, they are ready to be on their own in the world, and deeply grateful to and bonded with their parents as adult friends.
(continued)
Suzanna starts by cooking for small parties. She delivers the food and disappears. From her profits, she puts 50% into a bank account for George’s law school and 50% back into the business. First she buys bigger cooking vessels, then serving pieces such as chafing dishes and platters, then linens, and finally dishes. Suzanna’s enterprise grows into a full-scale catering business. Emily enters high school watching her mother begin this new business. When Emily gets home from school, she becomes primary caregiver for Jerry, so her mother can cook safely. Thus begins Emily’s deep bond with Jerry, and her feeling of having raised a son of her own.
The family economic system is structured so that Robert finances the household and Suzanna finances advanced education. It works. The school account grows, puts George through law school, continues to grow, puts Alex through medical school, continues to grow, puts Emily through veterinarian school, and finally puts Jerry through Julliard. Every child in the family knows to the depth of her/his heart that they owe their advanced education to their mother’s cooking. Every child also works full time during summers and has part time jobs during the school semesters to help pay their expenses as they go to school. By the time each graduates from her/his specialty, they are ready to be on their own in the world, and deeply grateful to and bonded with their parents as adult friends.
(continued)
Friday, March 5, 2010
Emily Mayfield, part 9: Surprise Pregnancy
At four years of age, Emily learns the fragility and preciousness of life. She realizes that people in hospitals can do magic things to save other people and body parts. She is allowed to be part of the family team that endures this time. Her job as part of the team is to dress Alex’s wound. Suzanna does not want Emily doing this, but George mediates and convinces his mother to let Emily do this. “We all want to help, Mother. Let Emily.”
Suzanna worked her way from cook to dietician for the school system during her nine-year tenure at the school. She likes the life she’s made with this job and her family. Her “baby,” Emily is in middle school, George is in college at the University of Florida studying philosophy/pre-law, Alex is a big man and athlete in high school, and Emily is a studious junior high student. Everyone is pretty independent and happy.
Suzanna isn’t sure whether or not she is pleased with the news of a surprise pregnancy, especially since she went to the doctor to verify that she had entered menopause. She leaves the doctor’s office and goes to a movie, all by herself in the dark, so she can cry and cry with no one to see or know. She sees Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in “Roman Holiday.” By the end of the movie, when she sees Audrey Hepburn say her silent and dutiful farewell to the dashing reporter Gregory Peck, she’s a sobbing mess. But all this weepy stuff clears Suzanna’s brain. When she walks out of the theater into the bright light of afternoon, she knows that she wants this baby in her life. She drives straight home, turns on the oven, and makes bread.
Robert is more surprised by coming home to homemade bread in the middle of an afternoon than he is by Suzanna’s announcement that they are going to have another child. After supper, they retire to their room for the evening, to have time to talk, away from the kids.
Time for serious decisions. Budget. Because Robert is a professor at the university, the kids get to go tuition-free, so college expenses aren’t such a big factor. Also, the boys work during the summers and earn their own spending money. Robert and Suzanna figure that they can make expenses with only Robert’s salary.
(continued)
Suzanna worked her way from cook to dietician for the school system during her nine-year tenure at the school. She likes the life she’s made with this job and her family. Her “baby,” Emily is in middle school, George is in college at the University of Florida studying philosophy/pre-law, Alex is a big man and athlete in high school, and Emily is a studious junior high student. Everyone is pretty independent and happy.
Suzanna isn’t sure whether or not she is pleased with the news of a surprise pregnancy, especially since she went to the doctor to verify that she had entered menopause. She leaves the doctor’s office and goes to a movie, all by herself in the dark, so she can cry and cry with no one to see or know. She sees Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in “Roman Holiday.” By the end of the movie, when she sees Audrey Hepburn say her silent and dutiful farewell to the dashing reporter Gregory Peck, she’s a sobbing mess. But all this weepy stuff clears Suzanna’s brain. When she walks out of the theater into the bright light of afternoon, she knows that she wants this baby in her life. She drives straight home, turns on the oven, and makes bread.
Robert is more surprised by coming home to homemade bread in the middle of an afternoon than he is by Suzanna’s announcement that they are going to have another child. After supper, they retire to their room for the evening, to have time to talk, away from the kids.
Time for serious decisions. Budget. Because Robert is a professor at the university, the kids get to go tuition-free, so college expenses aren’t such a big factor. Also, the boys work during the summers and earn their own spending money. Robert and Suzanna figure that they can make expenses with only Robert’s salary.
(continued)
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Emily Mayfield, part 10: New Brother
Realizing that Suzanna will have to quit her job, both parents decide that it will be best to tell the kids right away. George is busy with his own life in college. What does he care?
Alex is self-absorbed and delighted to be so visible in high school. He is mortified that his parents, those old folks, have gotten pregnant, of all things! What will people say? What will his friends say? Besides that, why is Suzanna quitting her job, now? How is he going to get all the things he thinks he deserves?
Emily doesn’t feel much reaction one way or the other. Her mother will be home when she gets home from school, so that is a nice thing. Not until Suzanna begins to show does the whole issue of pregnancy become real to Emily.
The pregnancy goes rather well. Suzanna is surprised, and so is the doctor, that she has so little trouble. Alex is pretty testy during these months, but for the most part the family just ignores his ill temper. George, on the other hand, has a good sense of humor about the whole affair. He teases Suzanna about putting on weight, teases Robert by calling him the “old dog.”
Baby Jerry’s birth was easy for all. Quick, safe, simple, natural. Suzanna wakes Robert at 6:00 am, they go to the hospital in Gainesville, and the baby is born at 9:15. Even so, the requirements of the day keep Suzanna and the baby in the hospital for ten days. By the time Suzanna is allowed to come home, she’s weak and her leg muscles are atrophied. The baby is named Gerald Gregory (remember the movie?) Mayfield. Emily, seeing how weak her mother is, takes over the care of the baby. Robert does the house stuff, George does the laundry, and Alex mopes when he’s not at ball practice. But Emily takes little Jerry on as her own.
Emily’s freshman year in high school is also Alex’s freshman year in college and George’s senior year in college. George has decided to go to law school after his graduation, so is studying hard and getting ready for the LSAT. The Florida State system does not waive tuition for offspring of professors regarding law school. Money looms as a new crisis for the family.
(continued)
Alex is self-absorbed and delighted to be so visible in high school. He is mortified that his parents, those old folks, have gotten pregnant, of all things! What will people say? What will his friends say? Besides that, why is Suzanna quitting her job, now? How is he going to get all the things he thinks he deserves?
Emily doesn’t feel much reaction one way or the other. Her mother will be home when she gets home from school, so that is a nice thing. Not until Suzanna begins to show does the whole issue of pregnancy become real to Emily.
The pregnancy goes rather well. Suzanna is surprised, and so is the doctor, that she has so little trouble. Alex is pretty testy during these months, but for the most part the family just ignores his ill temper. George, on the other hand, has a good sense of humor about the whole affair. He teases Suzanna about putting on weight, teases Robert by calling him the “old dog.”
Baby Jerry’s birth was easy for all. Quick, safe, simple, natural. Suzanna wakes Robert at 6:00 am, they go to the hospital in Gainesville, and the baby is born at 9:15. Even so, the requirements of the day keep Suzanna and the baby in the hospital for ten days. By the time Suzanna is allowed to come home, she’s weak and her leg muscles are atrophied. The baby is named Gerald Gregory (remember the movie?) Mayfield. Emily, seeing how weak her mother is, takes over the care of the baby. Robert does the house stuff, George does the laundry, and Alex mopes when he’s not at ball practice. But Emily takes little Jerry on as her own.
Emily’s freshman year in high school is also Alex’s freshman year in college and George’s senior year in college. George has decided to go to law school after his graduation, so is studying hard and getting ready for the LSAT. The Florida State system does not waive tuition for offspring of professors regarding law school. Money looms as a new crisis for the family.
(continued)
Monday, March 1, 2010
Emily Mayfield, part 8: The Diagnosis
The medical bills are staggering. For the first time, Suzanna goes to work outside the home. She manages the kitchen at the boys’ school. Robert takes Emily to the neighbor Mrs. Biddle every morning and picks her up after he gets the boys from school in the afternoon.
George sees what a lack of money means to the family. Their whole world has changed in some subtle and some not-so-subtle ways. He feels guilt about the financial burden because he feels that he was responsible for Alex sneaking out to ride Moon at night. George begins his life of lawyering by keeping his first ‘client’s’ confidentiality and never revealing the source of the fire behind the garage.
Robert does not resent or even consider the changes in his life. He lives so much in his mind; he is an economist, not a philosopher. He is just amazed that he can now spend more time with Suzanna and the kids after he brings everyone home from school each day.
Suzanna is practical. She is, above all else, grateful that Alex is alive, has sight, and is not disfigured—in that order. As for finances, bills are bills and she does what needs to be done to pay the bills.
Alex has had an eye-opener. He was most impressed by the specialists. They were so capable and efficient and adroit. They were the ultimate ‘doers.’ The plastic surgeon spends time with the boy explaining what he has done, what will be happening, and answering the boy’s insightful questions. The surgeon, Dr. Morgenstern, sees in Alex intelligence and a willingness to learn. Alex asks questions about becoming a doctor, and Dr. Morgenstern plants the seeds that will take root in the boy and grow into the respect that will make them peers in the future. Dr. Morgenstern will give the boy odd jobs to keep him around, and he will write a letter for Alex when he applies to medical school.
(continued)
George sees what a lack of money means to the family. Their whole world has changed in some subtle and some not-so-subtle ways. He feels guilt about the financial burden because he feels that he was responsible for Alex sneaking out to ride Moon at night. George begins his life of lawyering by keeping his first ‘client’s’ confidentiality and never revealing the source of the fire behind the garage.
Robert does not resent or even consider the changes in his life. He lives so much in his mind; he is an economist, not a philosopher. He is just amazed that he can now spend more time with Suzanna and the kids after he brings everyone home from school each day.
Suzanna is practical. She is, above all else, grateful that Alex is alive, has sight, and is not disfigured—in that order. As for finances, bills are bills and she does what needs to be done to pay the bills.
Alex has had an eye-opener. He was most impressed by the specialists. They were so capable and efficient and adroit. They were the ultimate ‘doers.’ The plastic surgeon spends time with the boy explaining what he has done, what will be happening, and answering the boy’s insightful questions. The surgeon, Dr. Morgenstern, sees in Alex intelligence and a willingness to learn. Alex asks questions about becoming a doctor, and Dr. Morgenstern plants the seeds that will take root in the boy and grow into the respect that will make them peers in the future. Dr. Morgenstern will give the boy odd jobs to keep him around, and he will write a letter for Alex when he applies to medical school.
(continued)