BALTIMORE BEAUTS

It's really fun to be almost 80 and look back at how lives are connected by people, places and events....and time.
It never ceases to amaze me how we are SO CONNECTED and don't even know it... like last week when I put my thoughts in my blog showing the connection of Don Peterson the astronaut and the rocket engineer from Huntsville when they never met.

Same here with the three of us..Me...Marie...and Nancy.... is it because we all went to the same high school: No. Nancy and Marie did Seton I believe, I went to Western.... Is it because we were all the same religion? No Nancy and Marie were, I was Episcopalian back then.Were we all the same political party...no Marie was different than Nancy and I...Is it because we all had a street named after us? No only Nancy...Is it because our fathers were all mayors of Baltimore....No just Nancy while we were growing up... well, what then...

The last two years I'ved been struggling trying to find a "prince" doctor to go to since I moved back to Fburg from Florida… but only have found the "TOAD" family docs.... but last weekend I met a new neighbor who raved about how his doc here listened, laughed and made people better...taking them off meds instead of piling on more meds. Good Grief! An answer to my prayers! What is his name? He said Dr Cook.

So as I was tracking him down online I kept thinking Dr Cook.... Dr Cook...so familiar and then I remembered Dr Cook was the name of the miracle doc who kept cousin Lois alive through lung cancer and copd for MANY years.over in Baltimore.... Dr Cook would come over to Marie's son's house and say hi to cousin Lois when we all arrived for their annual 4th July cookouts and Catonsville parades. That was a different Dr Cook. And thus I drifted off into different thoughts as I usually do ...onto a Marie track. I need to call her...I haven't talked to her in years since they would all come down to our Pasadena house and swimming pool and spend summer Sundays full of fun, laughter and dominoes and good food. We all lost track when we moved to Florida...
So I googled Marie and sadly found her obit....What was neat was that even though a year has past since her death I was able through her pics at the funeral home to see how she had spent her life since we left in 04.
Growing up I hated a lot of the Baltimore sights and sounds that were actually strengthening me... the smells from the inner city riding on the no 8 streetcar...Baltimore humidity...horses/wagons walking down alleys singing the foods they were selling! Unimportant you would think but the colors of growing up in our generation in a city.
But then when I came back to Baltimore in 1999 my daughter gave me a book: Hometown Boy :The HoodlePatrol/& other Curiosities of Baltimore and then I began to understand...to appreciate my growing up in Baltimore...poor in money but strong in character and faith.
Several years later while talking to a Towson State Teachers buddy about how much Towson and Baltimore were responsible for who we became …. my relatives...my rowhouse, my neighbors..my schools...my education...my friends...my religion/faith... Baltimore gave each of us so much...toughness....in our beliefs....in getting things done..in our sense of humors...in doing what we believed in....a strength and pride to continue on as strong women in hard and in good times.

Marie was a little shortie but strong. Crafty, caring and fun to be around. Good cook. Great wife and mother and grandmother. And a good Catholic. I have missed her since we moved but I am glad we got to share our Baltimore years early in life and then in later years. Thank you for your memories Marie...