ABSTRACT
The decade of David, of his rapid rise in the world of academia, and of our family’s overseas adventures, began on an auspicious note, once we secured the lease of a fully furnished house with an acre and a half of lawn and woods just one mile from the center of town and barely two miles from the university. We stored what meager furniture we owned at the Porter home in Elba, and managed to buy a Ford station wagon with help from Dave s interest in the family farm. On the first Saturday in July, my husband drove off in the little old German car and I started out in the carefully packed station wagon with three-year- old Tom and two-year-old Davey. Our babysitter, Suzanne Heckman, came along to help me along the way and spend a few days with us seeing a bit of Massachusetts. It was a grueling trip, with stops every few hours to use the bathroom and to give me a break from having to concentrate so hard on the New York State Thruway. David had arrived at the house in six hours; my trip took four hours longer. What a relief for all of us when I finally pulled up the long driveway to be greeted 177by my husband, who had been sitting on the front steps anxiously watching the road for hours!
