Sunday, May 25, 2025

 

Lourdes and I lived in married student housing at the University of Miami.  We had our first child while living there, Cristina.   It was a wonderful apartment.  The apartment had no air conditioning, so we had to leave the windows open.  It was very warm.  It was termite infested.  It was a wonderful place. The apartments were built in 1926 or so, surrounded by a nice playground.  Sometimes the swing sets had swings.  That did not mean a thing.  It was a wonderful apartment.   Right across the playground, there lived a trumpet player.  Every afternoon you would hear the trumpet player playing beautifully, practicing.   Every time I hear a trumpet playing a solo, I am reminded of playing with Cristina in the playground with no swings. I loved the place, not only because it was our first home as a family but due to many other attributes including my fellow students who also lived in the complex, and it was cheap.  Oh, and we were right across from the Howard Johnson’s on US1 across from the UM.  From our bedroom, I could see inside the lobby of the Howard Johnson’s. 

In many ways those were difficult days.  Lourdes had finished medical school.  She was in residency at Mount Sinai Medical Center.  Cristina was still very young, she was still in her crib asleep in the same bedroom we slept.

It was a great place to walk with Cristina once she was old enough.   Of course, a couple of times we had to evacuate the building due to termites being so bad.  They had to fumigate.  Sometimes, Lourdes and I  would walk with or carry Cristina from our apartment to either Haagen Daz or Swensen’s or Howard Johnsons or Baskin Robbins. The key was ice cream.   We frankly just wanted to tire Cristina out so she could sleep soundly. The ice cream was a bonus for her… and me.   

Lourdes was in pathology rotations at Mount Sinai Medical Center.  I was in a postdoctoral appointment in the main campus.  She was going through a program at the Medical Examiners Office.  In this program she had to visit crime scenes with the coroner’s office.  I had a more flexible schedule. 

On a typical day, at 2am after Cristina was asleep, Lourdes would get a call via a beeper provided by the coroner’s office.  I do not know why but it was usually at 2am.  She would call the number.  The conversation would be as follows.  You will pick me up…usual place…ok see you then.  She had to visit a crime scene, usually a murder or suicide. Lourdes would get dressed and leave the apartment at 2am.  She would walk across the street to the Howard Johnsons.  This was the arranged place. 

The police was very considerate. They did not want a young lady to drive by herself to what by definition was a crime prone area so they would pick her up.  She would sit in the lobby of the Howard Johnsons, while I was pretending to sleep in our bedroom.  There was no air conditioning. So, I could hear the police patrol car approach.  From the bedroom I would keep my eye on Lourdes.  The other one I kept on Cristina.  I worried since my wife  was alone at 2am waiting in the lobby of a hotel in the middle of US 1.   No cellphones then.  She would then stand in the corner at the entrance of the Howard Johnsons and a marked police car would approach.  She would get into the car.  If Cristina would wake up, I would try to get her to go to sleep once more. I would then go back to sleep. Since we had no air conditioning you could hear the sound of traffic.  It was a great apartment.  If the termites were swarming, I would turn one light on so they would go to the other room.  Every other day the scene was repeated.  My wife would leave the apartment at 2 am, stand in the corner and be picked up by a marked police car.  I would then try to get Cristina to fall asleep again. This sometimes would take a long time and this was inconvenient since I had to go to work myself.

I often wondered what my fellow students and neighbors thought.  Poor guy, wife leaves the apartment at 2am, returns around 6am and he is totally oblivious to the situation.  And, not only that, she goes to the same place and is picked up by the police at 2 am.  That couple must not be very bright. 

It was a wonderful place. 

I would learn a lot during that time.  Going to the lab in the morning, taking Cristina to the sitter’s.  Lourdes would sometimes return later that morning, or go straight to the Medical Examiner’s Office.  After I took Cristina to the sitter, which in many cases was Lela, I would go to the laboratory to learn all about cobalt compounds.  I was tired before I got there.  On the weekends, Lourdes would take care of Cristina.  I would go to  work trying to do my research. 

Lourdes and I probably learned the most important thing we would ever learn during that time. We learned to be mom and dad.   

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