After a hard days work, they’d gather together by the radio to warm their feet up against the pot bellied stove. In winter-time, his mom would wrap him in a blanket, and run to tuck him in bed, and then she’d open the window, because it was just as cold outside as it was inside. From this salt of the earth life, with an outhouse full of cobwebs and spiders, to life in Potomac, MD, circling my mother’s orbit, of diplomatic types, was a bit of a leap. I think he achieved it not only because he was accomplished, but because he was wise enough to listen to the elders around him who wished they had the opportunity to get an education.