April 9, 2013

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Ghosts of Auschwitz

This is a travel story. Let me set the stage.

Our son Michael was participating in a summer session of Semester at Sea, taking classes while sailing to exotic locales on a cruise ship for three months. An optional parents’ trip was scheduled to meet the ship in St. Petersburg, Russia; spend a few days, then sail to Gdansk, Poland; see some sights in Poland; and return home. Neither Cathy nor I had been to that part of Europe, so we would have liked to go, but . . .

Cathy is a Registered Nurse, specializing as a lactation consultant. To work in that field it is necessary to be certified by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners (“IBLCE”). Certification requires completing specific education and passing an exam that is given no more than once a year. She was scheduled to take the exam on a date immediately after the parents’ trip concluded, and she was enrolled in review classes in the days leading up to the exam. She simply could not go.

To make matters worse, we were moving just a week before the trip was to begin and were not sure that the significant remodeling of our new (to us) house would be completed. It was quite a stressful time.

As a good husband, I knew how difficult this period would be for Cathy. Clearly the most helpful thing I could do was go to Europe alone to spend some time with Michael. Continue reading →