Poem

Not long before she died, Carolyn and I co-wrote a poem about the four month difference in our ages. She wrote the first three stanzas, and I wrote the fourth stanza. It's a cute poem, and appropriate to be published here.

The Raving

by Carolyn Farkas

How distinctly I remember, I’m no senior till December,
When each candle’s dying ember casts its wax upon the cake.
Let us go a little later, to some movie or theater.
Since your age is now the greater, at the ticket booth I’ll take
One senior ticket for your sake.

Then, although the price is higher, one more ticket I desire.
I am just an adult buyer. I’ve no discount I can take.
Although on a cane I’m leaning, my arteries and bowels need cleaning,
“Adult” has a more cheerful meaning. The thought I’m twenty she might make.
Ok, I know that dream is fake.

This thought of twenty still beguiling my wrinkled face into smiling,
But, with the years upon me piling, what if there is some mistake?
What if she ignores the geezer, and my order doesn’t please her.
I am not as old as Caesar. Come on, you, give me a break.
Sixty-four flames on my last cake.

by Henry Farkas

Those four months each year remember, you’re the flame and I’m the ember
Just because your parents, dear, made slower love than mine did score.
An accident of our birth order made me August, you December.
So in fall it’s easier your youth, my age, to both remember
But four months is just the difference in our ages, evermore.

I know I said that Carolyn's obituary would be the last entry in my blog of our three year long second honeymoon. But I came across this wedding picture of her, and I couldn't resist adding it to the blog.

On September 13, 2009, Carolyn Farkas PhD (nee Farb), devoted wife of Dr. Henry Farkas; beloved mother of Brian Farkas of Milford, DE, Kathy Farkas of Los Angeles, CA, and Miriam Zink of San Diego, CA; loving mother-in-law of Lisa Farkas, Chris Angel, and Doug Zink; beloved sister of Dr. Stanley Farb of Somerset, NJ; loving sister-in-law of Mignon Farb, Ken and Ellen Farkas; cherished grandmother of Derek, Ashley, Andreu, Dane, Tyler, Branden, Mason, and Naomi.

Memorial contributions in her memory may be sent to Family Services Association, 718 N. Bridge Street, Elkton, MD, 21921-5310. This was the agency from which the Farkas family adopted Miriam, their youngest daughter. Carolyn served on their board of directors for many years.

You can listen to, and download, an MP3 of the funeral service by going to

http://sollevinson.com

Click on Daily Funeral Schedule. When you get to the schedule page, there's a search box. Type in Farkas and you'll see the MP3s for Carolyn's service and for my mother's service.

Yesterday, Carolyn was feeling ill. In the evening, she decided to have me take her to the ER. On the way out of the house, she had a sudden, unexpected cardiac arrest. I did CPR, the paramedics did CPR, but nothing worked. She was pronounced dead at Union Hospital at 9:30 PM. I'll probably never know what she died of.

Progress Report

Here's a progress report on my cancer. I'm back in Maryland, and I just had a PET/CT and a head MRI. The PET/CT shows no detectable cancer. The heat MRI shows that the brain tumor that they irradiated at Christiana Hospital in 2008 is still dead, and there are no new brain tumors. So things are looking good right now.

The video doesn't have anything to do with my progress report. It's shows our granddaughter, Naomi dancing, singing, and pretending to play a toy guitar.

Here's a picture of Mom and me. I was two and she was 25. Some of the people who attended her funeral service did remember her from back then. I can't say that I remember her from when she was 25, but I do remember that when I was in elementary school, whenever we had parents visitation day at school, she was always the cutest mom there.

Mom died the day before yesterday. Here are a couple of pictures of her on a family cruise we took about a year ago. In the top picture, where we're all wearing the cruise T shirts, she's on the left next to Carolyn. In the bottom picture she's right up front in the center. In my next blog entry, I'll put up a picture of her from about 63 years ago because she was concerned about how she'd look, and how people would remember her. Actually, she looked really good for an 88 year old lady. These two pictures are four generatio pictures. The show her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

A four generation picture, left to right, me, my granddaughter, Naomi, my mother, Dorothy, and my daughter, Kathy.

UNauthorized animals will clearly not enter beyond that point because there's a sign telling them not to enter there.

Carolyn and I are back in Maryland, although we haven't gotten home yet. We're hanging out near Baltimore so we can keep my Mom company while she continues her recuperation process from her hip pinning surgery. My brother, who lives near here, is on his honeymoon.

Earlier today, we went to the Maryland Zoo at Baltimore. It used to be the Baltimore Zoo, but I suppose the city must have asked the state for money, and, like with sports stadiums, with money comes naming rights.

Walk-in Balloon

To give everyone an idea about the size of these hot-air balloons, someone brought along an old balloon that's no longer safe to fly. They inflated that balloon with cold air from two fans, and then they let people in the audience walk into the balloon as it lay on its side on the ground. They'd never allow this with a balloon that was still going to fly since the feet of the people walking into the balloon could damage it and make it unsafe. I felt the material of this balloon, and it felt pretty strong, but there were some rips in the material so that's why it's no longer used for flying. You'll note how many people are standing around inside the balloon. I was in there, too, when I took this picture. It seems quite a bit larger when you're inside of it than when you look at one up in the air.

Balloon Race in Sioux Falls, SD

Wagner, South Dakota

40 years ago, Carolyn and I spent the summer in Wagner South Dakota. It was between my junior and senior year in med school. I had a summer externship at an Indian Health Service hospital. The top picture is the house we rented that summer. The next picture is the hospital, the third picture is Main Street. It was pretty empty 40 years ago, too. The fourth picture is the only airplane at the local airport, at least, the only one with wings on it.

Close Up Picture of the Ant Hill

Corn Palace, Mitchell, SD

Badlands South Dakota

More pictures from Bear Country near Rapid City, SD

A bear near Rapid City, SD

Then we went to Fort Whoop-up where they used to sell liquor to the indians (I am not making this up)

We took a little side trip to Vulcan