Here goes, five things you don't know about me.

1. Several years ago the engine went on the 1984 Pontiac Sunbird I inherited from a dear aunt who died in 1999 at age 92. In fifteen years she had put 22,000 miles on that car. It died on me a few miles short of the north end of the Blue Ridge Parkway, a bit more than 100 miles from home. It happened late afternoon on a Friday in September. At first I thought it had just overheated. But after a while it became clear that the engine would never run again. I was able to get a faint signal on my cell phone up there. But it turned out that it was also dying. I managed to complete two calls on it–one to AAA and the other to my wife telling her I didn't know when I would get home, nor how. The sun set. Fortunately I had been away for a few days so I had clothes in addition to the ones I was wearing. As the sun set, the temperature dropped, probably into the upper 50s. Good thing I was able to add clothing. After getting permission from the US Park Police to bring a tow truck onto the Blue Ridge Parkway (cars only, no commercial vehicles permitted) the guy AAA sent arrived to rescue me. It was nearly 9:00 when we got to his garage in Waynesboro, VA. He took dropped me off at a mom and pop motel and I was able to get an inexpensive room. I was also able to squeeze one last call out of my cell phone, to arrange for my wife to pick me up in the morning so we could rush home, change clothes, and then backtrack 50 miles to get to a wedding in which our oldest was a bridesmaid. We now have AAA Plus (towing up to 100 miles), I have had several new cell phones since then (have you found the one I lost in April 2002?), and the ancient Sunbird, with a rebuilt engine, never strays more than about 60 miles from home–within the AAA covered towing distance!

2. My tonsils were removed when I was thirty years old. I used to get several step infections a year; since then I have one at most every few years. So it worked. Nevertheless, if you have to have that done, I recommend that you do it when you are younger.

3. I have appeared (I wouldn't say performed) in the center ring of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus. A guy who lived down the street when I was a kid and with whom I was in school from kindergarten through high school ended up working as an accountant and manager for the circus. He traveled with it and lived on the circus train. When we lived in Chicago and it came to town he got us complimentary tickets. Some years later after we moved to Williamsburg and the circus came nearby, he got us complimentary tickets–third row, center ring. Traffic getting there was bad and we arrived a little late. I had barely taken my seat when a clown bounded up the stairs, took me by the wrist and dragged me into the center ring. Thousands of people watched him try to pose me in various one-footed ways that required more balance than I could muster. I don't know if the act was finished or if the clown (a big international star, featured on the cover of the program) despaired over his choice for a straight man; but after briefly amusing thousands with my inability to do what he wanted me to do, he gave me a lollipop and sent me back to my seat. There I found four people who were pretended as much as they could that they had never seen me in their lives. My wife muttered, “I hope nobody we know is here.” It could have been worse. I think the next clown and the things he did with a guy he dragged from the audience made my family grateful that I was picked first. He got much bigger laughs, but was also placed in a much more embarrassing situation. There but for the grace of God go I…

4. When I was about twelve that same neighbor who years later gave my family circus tickets invited me to a Boy Scouts meeting. I haven't been to one since–just not my thing. I fit in better in the circus, actually.

5. I have a bachelor's degree in English, a master's degree in English, and a master's degree in library science. These make me the family slacker in the formal education department. My brother earned his MD at Harvard and my sister earned her PhD at Berkeley. I'm a middle child; I even earned my degrees in the middle of the country.