Away We Go!

It was a daunting task facing the move to Denver without a job and totting our little newborn and the family dog, Blanch.  We adopted Blanch shortly after the wedding and she was a wonderful dog, part Spitz with a touch of Beagle.  Blanch had a beautiful white coat, thus the name, but unfortunately she shed quite a bit.  Jane and I took a trip with some friends a couple of years before. They rode in her new car and Jane, Blanch and I followed in our little Dodge wagon, which had no air conditioning.  The plan was to head to Colorado and on  the way drop off our dog with my buddies folks in Kansas.  Every time we stopped along the way Jane and I would get out of the car in a cloud of white hair, which not only swirled around us but stuck to our hot sweaty
skin!

It wasn't easy saying goodbye to our friends in St. Louis, but I learned a long time before that people generally grow during stressful times.  That was certainly the case when I left New Jersey at eighteen and flew to Denver, never having been further west than eastern Pennsylvania, or when I moved to St. Louis alone to start my career.  This adventure would prove to be as meaningful and important to my personal growth as any of the others.

The trip went well and it was nice to be back in the Mile High City, the place where Jane and I met in 1967. Of course I worked feverously to find a job that would support my new family.  I signed up with a company that consulted with those who were in the process of changing their career paths.  The method included making contact with people in a field in which you were interested and not asking for a job, but asking for advice on how to get into that field.  My big problem was I had no idea what I wanted to do with myself and didn't have the luxury of spending a lot of time in therapy to figure it out!  Although I worked with my consultant and followed his direction I also attacked the problem the old fashioned way, tearing through the want ads and sending out letters and resumes.  Month's went by with no interviews and then finally I was asked to meet with the reccruiter of a national cafeteria company who wanted me to join their manager training program.  If it wasn't for the fact that I couldn't see myself wearing a hair net and that the job paid exactly what I was making as a teacher, I probably would have accepted the position!

Our friend who was so gracious to allow us to stay in his condominium asked for little in return.  He was a teacher in a federal prison and had a small catering business, which Jane and I would help out with when he got a job.  I think he stepped up his marketing when he knew we were there to help because suddenly things got busy.  The biggest event was the Puram Ball, a Jewish event held after The Day of Attonment.  Not being Jewish, neither Jane nor I had any idea what might be on the menu, but it all had to be prepared in a kosher kitchen.  The day before the event we all worked like dogs preparing the next days meal in his temples kitchen.  We were making some sort of tuna casserole as the main dish and lots of other side dishes.  The tuna mixture was being cooked in a couple of large pots, thank god our friend was responsible for that part of the days chores! Suddenly we smelled a scorched pot smell and low and behold the tuna blob was burning on the bottom of that giant pot.  Once we got it off the heat and poured it into large aluminum baking dishes we held our breath while the cook tasted the concoction.  We could tell by the corkscrew expression on his face that we had a problem.  He began doctoring the tuna casserole with every condiment and spice he could find to no avail, it still tasted burned!

The three of us had a wrestless night but had little time to worry as the event was planned for eight o'clock and we had lots of work to do!  We had rented Grants Mansion in downtown Denver for the event and arrived several hours early to set up our heating closets and set the tables.  Everything seemed to be going well until I checked on the tuna casserole which was still stone cold!  It was after six when we discovered that we had blown several fuses in the old mansion and had no clue how to replace them, or even where they were!  After a number of calls we located the maintenance company who dispatched a worker to resolve the problem.  By the time he arrived we had less than an hour to get the food warm but the equipment wasn't designed for a quick heat up.  By eight o'clock we had a house full of people who had been fasting all day and were not going to take our excuse for cold tuna casserole very well.  Nonetheless, we forged on and served the food as quickly as possible.  I think we escaped mayhem because the attendees were so hungry!  Jane and I chuckled a bit about the fact that after all the doctoring of the food we doubted it was still kosher!