Has It Really Been That Long?

In 1981 I was living on Governor's Island in NY harbor. When I got up in the morning and opened my window shade, the Statue of Liberty was so close that it filled the window (how's that for a cool view?). It was a five minute ride to Manhattan by ferry and I was as busy in town as my job allowed (Assistant Pollution Prevention Officer and later Ship Movement Officer at the office of the US Coast Guard "Captain of the Port").

Three nights a week I took the Broadway IRT to 72nd Street for a good workout at the NY Karate Club (brown belt). The senior instructor was named Mori, a Japanese man in his late 30's who lived in New Jersey- a seventh degree black belt. Shotokan is known for being a strict and traditional form of karate. The sessions started with the students washing the floor. In the fall of 1981 I took an evening, non-credit course at NYU (Introduction to the Arts, taught by a woman named Ethyl).

Sitting in the adjacent row was a quiet, attractive, intelligent young woman with dark auburn hair.