22 March, 2012

{this memory} 43

This is the story behind last Monday's {this moment}.

You're in Massachusetts - Cape Cod, to be precise. East Barnstable. You're looking at me on the left, unfortunately weighing the most I've ever weighed. To my left is Dr. T. Berry Brazelton.

Dr. Brazelton is a noted American pediatrician. Wikipedia: "Major hospitals throughout the world use the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS). Many parents know him as the host of a cable television program What Every Baby Knows and as author of a syndicated newspaper column. He has written more than two hundred scholarly papers and twenty four books and has been described him as 'America's most celebrated and influential baby doctor since Benjamin Spock.'"

In 2007, my wife had been invited to his home on the Cape so she could do a videotaped and extended interview for the Archives of the Child Life Council. He was influential in the creation of that profession. I was there as chauffeur and curious onlooker.

We spent a wonderful few hours with the good doctor and his wife. They were gracious hosts and regaled us with some of her family history, which goes way back on the Cape and in Boston. The doctor is from Texas. They were both a delight to get to know for a bit.

So many wonderful memories, and they truly are. I am a fortunate man.
TGB