Photoessay #1154 - Reps

Picture of the three Chapter Representatives for the Seattle Chapter of parent group. Unfortunately, the occasion is the retirement of Curtis (the guy in the middle) from the position and as an attending member. He's been active for over 5 years. I know that I'm going to miss him. We've been through the thick and thin these last 3 years. He's always the one who sweats the details and makes sure that everything is in order for the meeting. For months and years, I've just shown up being generally the matriarch always listening to people. Time for me to pick up the slack. With Margaret on the left. Also a good organizer. But Curtis always anticipated the problems and took care of the problems.

We gave him a pretty plant and had a cake saying "Thanks, Curtis". When he told me his final decision, earlier in the week, I said we would publicly mark the occasion. At first he resisted saying "I don't like being acknowledged" Sorry, Curtis, I said, we're doing it. So I made a little speech, said I might cry. He looked alarmed "Don't cry!". I gave a time for others to have a little say about how much his work had meant to them. At the end, it was very sweet, he said "Out of this, I have gained two sisters (referring to Margaret and myself). One's Catholic and the other's Jewish and I'm a Buddhist!"

A little over a year ago, Curtis was very ill for a while, really sick, like in the ICU in a drug-induced coma. That's SICK" I realized how much he was a part of my daily life. Often I hear from him every day. Something he's thought of, something's he seen in the paper, something we need to take care of. I talked to him all the time. He's still ticked off at me because I referred to him as middle-aged. What do you think Curtis, you are over 50!

The representatives are in charge of the general running of their chapter. The Seattle group is the oldest and biggest of the 5 chapters. Even last night, Dec 22, we had 28 people attend, including a new person and 2 who were new last week. People are in crisis at holiday time! Now Margaret and I are on our own. We'll be looking for a third rep. Keep it in mind!

Actually I'm giving the large group presentation tonight at the Shoreline Chapter (the newest). My topic" No ACE (Advice, Criticism, Explanation). Add an 'S' onto their. No Sarcasm.