So last Friday I was at the Dept of State in Washington, DC, taking photographs for a Christmas card. I left the building just as the terrorists were beginning their attacks in Paris. The next day was my birthday, and I had a 10PM flight to get me home in bed by 1:30AM or so. A good friend from my IT days in DC met me at the Sam and Harry’s in DCA, and we reconnected and toasted to each others health until it was time to head to my gate…all the while reports from Paris, one more horrific than the next, silently scrolled by on large screens.
The following Wednesday night I gave a short presentation to the Newport Photo Guild, in which were sprinkled some photos of Secretaries of State from past work. The opportunity to bring up events of the previous weekend was obvious, but I didn’t. The Christmas card had not been mailed yet of course, so I couldn’t show it, and I didn’t trust myself to ad-lib the quick story above. Problem was, after 3 days of incubation the cold germs I’d picked up during my trip had blossomed into a full-blown sinus head cold. I was miserable. I’ve never liked what cold medicines do to you, so had taken nothing but aspirin in an attempt to get through the evening. My head felt like a squishy, leaky melon. I had only 20mins to speak, and given my state I didn’t trust myself to stray from my script, or attempt to bring up such a story and not ramble. So I didn’t mention it.
The card has gone to press now, and I’ll have a copy for my files someday. Maybe the story and photo will work its way into a future talk.
Don’t really know why I’m posting a 2yr old photo of my cat. Maybe the head cold is still affecting my judgement.
Happy weekend to you all.