so many experiences from so many directions.  each person I spoke to, got to know, reunited with – whatever – taught me something new.  And i really feel like a mosquito in a nudist colony – i don’t know where to begin. Each person – from the very young to the very old -had something to teach me.  

let me begin with the most remote.  When I used to ride to LIRR to New York to work at Columbia someone always sat next to me, and always they had a story to tell.  Sometimes I thought some of them rode the trains just to complain about their wives.  But the only commuter train we rode on was to New Jersey and that was just once.  What he told me was about the amount of time spent at work, the fact that his wife had never been abroad and his income was devoted to daily living.. Politics, he said, was a luxury, and he could only offord to give passing glances at the rest of the world.  I had to admit that I had spent more on one dress for a wedding than his wife spent all year – and my dress was a one time thing i’ll never have occasion to wear again and cost $70 bucks at Macy’s closeout.  Hife wife wears costco bargains only.  The Bengali sitting opposite us was astounded at the intimacy of the conversation but who else is he going to about his daily life?  he has to make a good impression at work and be silent at home.  A glass of wine, the chimney, the dog’s doctore, the kid’s dentist.  

i got it all in 40 minutes.