Law School Second Half, 1985-1986

Barb officially started law school at George Washington University in fall 1983. This album extends through graduation and beyond.

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We were able to take a short Spring Break in May of 1985. We “won” a 3-day preview of time share resort in the Bahamas and combined it with a visit to my folks in Singer Island. The resort was called Treasure Cay and is still in operation (website). I don’t honestly recall a whole lot about it other than that the beach was indeed lovely with the whitest sand I’d ever seen, even compared with Aruba.

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We combined the Bahamas visit with a stop to see Mom and Dad at their new house on Powell Drive on Singer Island, Riviera Beach. Sisters Sue and Laurie showed up as well, evidently on separate days. This house would be a happy home for Mom and Dad for many years. It had a nice pool, a dock for Dad’s boat, and a pleasant patio with room for a ping pong table.

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Also in May, we celebrated birthdays with Betsy and Joe at the Fishers’ house in Oakton, Va.

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In July of 1985, we went with Betsy and Joe to Williamsburg, Virginia, staying at the Williamsburg Motor House (which is no more) and paying visits to Busch Gardens, the pottery factory outlet, and the first round of golf for Joe and I at the Golden Horseshoe Course.

In September, 1985, I went on a business trip to San Francisco to help install ARC switching systems at VISA’s main data center. It was the beginning of a busier schedule of traveling for me, nearly always to Barb’s consternation.

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Barb was mostly consumed with law school, with a little time left over for cats, Bert and Walt.

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We celebrated Barb’s October birthday with a hot pot at the Fishers. Have I mentioned hot pot dinners? The Fishers encountered the traditional Mongolian meal when they lived in Taiwan and made it a special-occasion tradition in our family. Preparing the hot pot was an all-day effort of chopping, made somewhat easier by the electric meat slicer Louise eventually bought. All the effort was rewarded with a tasty meal, presided over mostly by Fred who maintained order in the pot and encouraged exotic combinations of flavors in your individual sauce bowl. The always lengthy meal was capped with noodles, a delicious broth soup, and a happy, satisfied bloat.

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In November, Barb got a trip of her own to Boston to recruit new students to GW’s Law Center. It was Barb’s first trip to Boston, and Bill went up for the weekend. She stayed at the Park Plaza hotel, and we had our first encounter with Legal Seafood’s flagship downtown restaurant.

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We hosted our own first Thanksgiving at the apartment in Shirlington, with my Mom and Dad making the trip north to celebrate with us. I cooked and carved my first turkey, to the cats’ delight.

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Then we followed up with a visit to the Fishers.

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Mom brought various pictures of Florida nieces to keep us posted on their progress.

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I think Mom and Dad also brought along a message from my sister Len, along with her newly published book. Len had by this time been through three marriages, addictions to various medications and therapists, lived for a time near Mom and Dad in Riviera Beach and a bit further away in Fort Myers, and generally bumped along a difficult life. She determined, one way or another, that many of her medical problems stemmed from Premenstrual Syndrome, or PMS. Our grandmother Susie, Aunt Helen, and others in our family, particularly on the Goodloe side, evidently suffered from similar maladies. PMS was not well understood or even much discussed at the time, and Len set about writing a book about the disease and her experience. She got the book published in 1986 and had hopes of it becoming a national seller. Alas, that was not to be, though its ghost is still out there on the Internet (available for $2.00?, a free ebook in Italian?). Here are the cover, author page, and a letter from her at the time, along with a photo of her and a guy named Jim. I wish I could say I knew what she was talking about in the letter but it remains something of a mystery to me. I’m not sure I ever saw an actual copy of the book (I never paid her $9.95 for it), and don’t recall actually reading it. Perhaps I should try to track it down.

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By December, Barb achieved a life goal of being able to sit on her own hair. Congratulations!

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Christmas 1985 at Fishers, with Joe and kitten Nick, a surprise present from Betsy. Lucky Joe!

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In January, 1986, Barb’s law school friend Sarah Landise had her second daughter, Kristin. She was the first of our friends to have a baby, much less two (Katie was the older girl), and both during law school, I think. The first boy came a little later. Her marriage didn’t last too much longer. Sarah moved out to Kansas City and still stays in touch with Barb. Before very long, she became a grandmother, too.

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Barb became Business Manager of her school’s Law Revue, a song and dance extravaganza. I wasn’t expecting much from it, but it turned out some of these high strung Type A personalities were terrific performers. One fellow in particular had a magnificent voice and did a killer version of “In the Air Tonight.” He missed his calling. Unfortunately, I can’t remember his name.

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Later in March, Barb and I took a long weekend in Annapolis, staying in the Historic Inns of Annapolis and having a very memorable Sunday Brunch at the Treaty of Paris restaurant. Rare roast beef and fresh shrimp! I don’t think they do that brunch anymore, sadly. Note that by this time I my car was a red Isuzu.

I traded in my boring blue Chevy Chevette for a snazzy red Isuzu Impulse. It was something of an impulse buy. I liked its looks, designed by Italian Girgetto Giugario who famously did cars by Lotus, Maserati, Ferrari and even DeLorean. I especially liked its cockpit, with space-age control paddles on the steering column, quite an innovation for the time. The car was considerably out of character; even the salesman seemed surprised that a dweeby young man such as I would want a little red sports car. I didn’t really buy it for performance — there was a turbo version that was much zippier and more expensive — but I liked the way it looked and that there were very few others on the road. In the end, Isuzu only lasted a few more years in the American market and the car became increasingly difficult to service, but it was fun while it lasted.

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In April, Barb took her last exam, and there was a chance to get pictures with a few of her law school buddies. Barb would have to tell you about Liz and Ron — I only met them a few times. We became better friends with Kate Garrett, later traveling to China with her and her Mom.

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To celebrate the end of classes and get a tan before graduation, Barb and Kate Garrett took a trip to Jamaica, specifically to an all-inclusive resort called Jamaica Jamaica. It was Barb’s first trip to Jamaica and first all-inclusive. They had a great time and Barb’s been hooked on all-inclusives ever since. The resort itself appears to have become the Jewel Runaway Bay Beach Resort.

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While Barb ran off to Jamaica, I likely played tennis with Fred. We don’t have any pictures of us playing together, but here are some of Fred and Fen from May, 1986. For several years, I played doubles in a group with them and a few other Foreign Service buddies. Fred was an enthusiastic tennis player though not very competent. He made efforts to improve, taking some clinics and in fact he and I spent a weekend together at Seven Springs, PA, at a tennis camp run by Fritz Strunk (I think). The t-shirt from the camp said “Who the hell is Fritz Strunk?” These photos with Fen may actually be from another camp they attended together.

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Barb’s graduation was in May, 1986. Invitations went out and the crowd gathered.

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Celebrations began with a reception at Capitol Hill the day before. We got to meet Kate’s family, and Barb’s advisor, Prof. Max Pock.

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That evening, in the same outfits, we went to a party that Barb says was for Dommy’s medical school graduation…but I don’t remember who Dommy was — son of a Fisher family friend, no doubt.

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Graduation day itself was a lovely Spring day. The ceremony was held at the Smith Center, the basketball arena at GW. Things began with the gathering of the lawyers-to-be.

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The ceremony itself was a bit of a cattle call, but we had a view in the distance of Barb getting her diploma.

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Afterward was time for celebration, including a taste of champagne.

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Time for one more reception on campus.

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And one more celebration at home. A couple of nights later, Barb and I took in a show, Biloxi Blues, at the National Theatre. Such cultured folks, we were.

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To round out the story of law school, Barb sat for the Virginia Bar exam in Roanoke, VA, in July. I accompanied her for moral support but don’t remember much of anything other than the peanut soup at the historic Hotel Roanoke, which was delicious. A couple of months later, in October, we had a certified attorney on our hands! By then, Barb had already started at the Department of Health and Human Services and we were well on our way to the next chapter in our lives.

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