Oldest member

[Guest guest]

Dear Skip,

While not the oldest member, you are certainly the person who has lived longest

with CML. You must have done something right. No matter what, you will always

be at the top of the list in more ways than one, especially with your

willingness to share your stories with us and to offer encouragment to others. I

know you have a lot of stories you could tell us about your service time and

when you were first diagnosed with CML. When we offer our experiences, I

envision a huge bonfire on a starlit balmy night, with everyone sitting around

roasting marshmallows and telling their stories.

I spent weekends with friends on a sugarcane plantation. We used to get my

friend's brothers up early on a Saturday morning when they could have been

sleeping and saddle up the horses. It was fun to ride through the canefields at

the break of day. We brought a lunch and stayed out all day. There was a huge

drainage ditch running along the property, and we invited friends to come and

sit with us where we burned a fallen tree and served oatmeal cookies we made

earlier in the day. The boys sat on one side of the ditch and the girls on the

other as we exchanged our stories. My mother forgot to tell me to put in the

eggs and they had a 10-party line and she could not call me back. Next morning

there were oatmeal cookies strewn all over the area, no one could eat them. At

least they were able to drink the hot cocoa. We never even thought of drinking

liquor and it would have been easy enough to get, everyone knew everyone and you

didn't need identification.

Those are some of the things I am grateful for. There was a war raging on and

yet we were able to live la vida loca. There were a lot of things rationed like

sugar, meat and canned goods. Material was hard to find and we needed coupons

for shoes, too.

There was a major paper shortage and we didn't even have our graduation albumn

with our pictures. Those were also rationed. There was a prisoner of war camp

right next to our school and the Germans would come to the fence and stare at

us. We wondered what they were thinking. Some escaped, but surrendered because

they could not speak English and even if the could, everyone would know they

were not from our town and no one spoke with a German accent, except in the

movies. Jimmy's uncle was from Germany, but everyone knew him. Jimmy said he

wore a white shirt and tie and wore boots and rode a horse to check on the

plantation, he was the overseer. He used to say to Jimmy and his cousin

(always in trouble), " Geemy and Vallie, I will vip you. His cousin's name was

Wally. He still laughs when he tells stories about his uncle.

Well the bonfire is out and I am going to bed. Hope you all get a good nights

sleep. I hope you got to see the webcam with Dr. Cheson and Dr. Cortes, I found

it very interesting.

Carpe Diem,

Lottie Duthu