1978

The shortest route between two points, is not always the easiest.

I'll call 1978 disintegration.  Near the first part of the year (I really don't remember) I got sick, very sick.  I lost quite a lot of weight, was short of breath, and coughed a lot.  In Seattle retired military can go to the U S Public Health Service Hospital free, so I went over there.  I had some kind of pneumonia that no one could identify.  Here's a hint - alcoholics can get "alcoholic pneumonia" at least that's what I've been told.  I was in that place for almost two months, they even had me spend a day at the Children's Hospital so I could be tested for Cystic Fibrosis.  Betty never bothered to visit, not a great surprise to me.  While is was there they asked if I drank, I used the word "copious" and I don't think they believed that I drank over a case of beer a day,  if they had believed me they might have had an inkling of what my condition was.
  When I got out of hospital, the "rope" company hired me back as a machine operator - not overly heavy work, on the night shift.  Why there was a night shift tells you how many people were doing Macrame, although they also sold to "factories" that used the stuff.
  On the home front: In August the whole thing collapsed, I won't go into detail because a lot of people would be embarrassed.  We dissolved the "thing", I went to the Greyhound Station and bought a one price for anywhere type of ticket, and after I was sober enough they let me on a bus.  I made it to Spokane and drank during the lay-over and had to wait for the next bus.  Do I need to tell you why?  I was "left behind" in Nebraska, Ohio, New York state, and Boston, it was a trip that turned out to be a little longer than planned.
  The first night back in Maine (Portland) I slept under the Copper Beech tree at the Portland Museum of Art, nice tree, especially at Christmas when the light every branch, all of them.  I took a room at a residential hotel, rooms with one central bathroom per floor, the Everett.  I got a job in South Portland at a company that made firefighting equipment for industrial use.  They sold a lot to countries in the Middle East for oil rigs.  Later in life I would live in the neighborhood, but I didn't know that yet.  Do I really need to tell you what happened next?  No, I didn't think so.



 In it, for the long haul



The Copper Beech tree.



The Everett