We had no idea where she was other than SOMEWHERE in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. And Americans need a visa to go to Sierra Leone. So do Germans, but they get one automatically, so my daughter traveled on her German passport. My wife could have gone, but I would have been denied boarding at the airport (or detained upon arrival). So I couldn't just hop the next plane for Sierra Leone even if I wanted to--and from Boston, where we were at the time, there is no such thing anyway.
As for Helen and Howard, I can actually tell you exactly who, besides me, has had lunch with both of them at the same time: my brother! He and I picked Helen up on the way to lunch in his car. It was just the four of us. We all had a great time, and planned to do it again when time permitted. Unfortunately none of our schedules permitted a repeat performance before Helen's health failed. My main reason for wanting to set that up is that, though they were both friends of mine, not to mention huge national personalities, they had never actually met. As it was, it took me eighteen months to find a day when we could all do it on the same day at the same time in the same place. Helen rarely left Washington anymore at that point, and Howard is the only one I know whose schedule is as insane as mine even in normal times. Besides his involvement in Democratic politics, Howard is both an engaged environmentalist as well as big campaigner to stop human trafficking. Several years back, he was an organizer of a march from Bangkok to the Burmese border to draw attention to human trafficking. At the same time that Howard was swatting mosquitoes in the jungle near Burma, some armchair warriors on DU were busy accusing him of being a "sellout corporatist."
I appreciate the kind words, but just because my path has crossed with some people who have REALLY made a difference in this world, that doesn't automatically mean MY autobiography is one that would sell more than 25 copies (oops, my parents are gone, so make that 24).
= new reply since forum marked as read
