WEST POINT

WEST POINT
It is nice to start the day with a little bit of levity. At breakfast this morning, I was admiring my seatmate’s jacket. It was black, with gold circles on the cuffs. It was really spiffy. I hadn’t seen it before - in the year and eight months that I have been here at Quail Creek.
I asked Ray if it was new. He said “No, I got it in 1935 when I was at West Point!” I thought, how could a garment - almost 75 years old - look so nice? Then, I noticed the block- gold large “A” emblem on the left side of his jacket.. I asked him about that. Ray said that was for beating Navy! I told him that was the last time that Army beat Navy. He didn’t respond. I don’t think he heard me.
Our server was tuning in to all of this conversation. Rosie volunteered “I wasn’t even conceived by 1935”. I asked Ray about Army’s colors. He didn’t understand me, and turned to his wife, Jean, to interpret for him. She repeated what I had asked him, but he still didn’t comprehend. (He usually does a good job in reading her lips.) Then, I noticed that his hearing aid was barely hanging on to his left ear. So, I Googled “West Point colors”, and learned that Army’s colors are black and gold.
After breakfast, I was relating this little episode to one of our young servers, because I thought that she would be interested. Wrong! She wasn’t familiar with West Point. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. A sheltered life or generations gap? Or both!
Ray and Jean are my role models. They celebrated their 69th wedding Anniversary this month! (Yes, they were married in Seattle in 1940!) Jean was 19 and Ray 26 - my age, when Marie and I were married 65 years ago. We are short-timers! Needless to say, I enjoy their company very much.
I enjoyed playing bridge yesterday in the Community Center - Card Room. We had three tables - eight ladies and four men. I got fairly good cards for a change. In one round, my partner and I scored 650 points to our opponents 550. Yet, we didn’t play any of the six hands!
RCL - 11/24/09.