Category: Dittmeier

68 Years Later

In May, 1958 the eighth-grade class of St. Columba School in Louisville’s West End graduated and we all moved on to high school and the rest of our lives. That didn’t end all contact, though, and some of those classmates have continued to meet through the ensuing 68 years. Today 12 classmates and their spouses got together at an Italian restaurant, continuing bi-monthly lunches together. Because I just came back from Cambodia, it was the first time I had seen some of them since graduation. It was great! [Notice the restaurant ambiance! It is quite exotic with all sorts of Italian memorabilia and photos. Of special notice: a bust of Pope John XXIII on the table and his picture on the wall.]

Bike Recall

When my brothers and sisters and cousins decided to buy me an e-bike for commuting around Louisville, they chose a brand-name, high-end model for me. I became more aware of that when I received a recall notice from the manufacturer about a defective part, just like what happens for cars. The notice said that a bolt holding the back wheel can fracture because of a faulty casting process for the bolt and that I need to bring in the bike for a replacement bolt. It turns out they have to order the replacement bolt but won’t do it until I bring in the bike and leave it for the three days required for the bolt to arrive. I asked them to order the bolt and let me know when it arrives but they said they had to have the bike first. For legal liability reasons, they don’t want to appear to be supporting my continuing riding of the bike while there is risk of the back wheel falling off.

Rip Van Winkle?

Rip Van Winkle, in Washington Irving’s short story, is a Dutch American in the pre-Revolutionary War period who falls asleep after drinking with some shadowy figures in the Catskill Mountains. He sleeps for twenty years and wakes up in a setting that is vaguely familiar but radically different from what he knew before.

I don’t drink and didn’t sleep away my 40+ years in Asia, but I can relate to the feelings of confusion and wonder that must have accompanied Rip Van Winkle upon his awakening. When I left Cambodia, I was returning home but it’s not the home I left in 1983!

So much has changed:
• communications are so different,
• politics are chaotic and without the civility and care for the common good of another era,
• landmarks and establishments on the streets have disappeared,
• even in the church, parishes have been merged and closed and 1/3 of the priests are from other countries.

And those are just some of the changes I’ve encountered. It’s going to take a bit more time to adjust to the American way of life today.

Maryknoll visitors

I had a wonderful visit today with Judy and Dave Saumweber who stopped by in Louisville for a few hours on a trip to visit another friend on the East Coast. The Saumwebers, from Minnesota, were Maryknoll Lay Missioners in Cambodia when I arrived and are a wonderful couple and wonderful missioners and wonderful friends. I was honored and so happy that they adjusted their route to come through Louisville!

Bicycle Gloves

I bicycled to work daily in Phnom Penh but cycling there was much different from what it is in Louisville. The cold is one big difference. I had a pair of leather gloves but on the really cold days here in Kentucky, after fifteen minutes my fingers were frozen. People at Nazareth Home and at St. Boniface Church heard me talking about how unpleasant it was, and then they started giving me gloves! But even gloves purpose-made for cycling didn’t work when the temps were below 35º or so. Then some of my brothers and sisters got me a Christmas present of heated bike gloves–and they work! Riding with them in cold weather is heavenly!

I tried all sorts of gloves to keep my fingers warm and tried putting a thinner pair of gloves inside heavy gloves but that didn’t work either. The large gloves on the right, with the blue lights on the cuff, are the ones that gave me relief. They have USB-charged batteries in those large cuffs.

Reconnecting

This morning I finished an article for our diocesan newspaper about my return to Kentucky, and related the experience of reconnecting with family and friends. And then this afternoon I had the opportunity to actually do that.

I have lots of first cousins on the Dittmeier side of the family and today nine of us got together for lunch. These are some of the people who bought the e-bike for me.

Then I made a brief visit to Ruth, now 104 years old, and her daughter Peg. I have known, liked, and respected their family for more than 50 years.

Dittmeier Christmas Time

Today the Dittmeier family had their Christmas gathering at Nazareth Home Clifton where I live. This was a first because always before we met at my sister Mary and husband Mike’s home. The out-of-state families with children came this year, though, so we moved to Nazareth Home where there was more room for the children to play. It was a delightful gathering.

False Alarm–deja vu

A couple weeks ago two fire trucks rushed to Nazareth Home for a false alarm that was never explained. Yesterday morning a fire engine appeared again, this time responding to an alarm triggered by some food scrap that had fallen onto the electrical burner in the building where I live. It started smoking when the stove was turned on and activated the smoke detector and automatic alarm that called the fire fighters. They were most gracious as they checked things out and then climbed back on the truck at the end of their shift for that day.